


Keybladed Guardians of the Galaxy

by The_Unlimited



Series: Light and Avengers [5]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Kingdom Hearts (Video Games), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Add in of new characters, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, During Kingdom Hearts II, Gen, I never learned what the hell I'm doing, OC Vanitas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25771249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited
Summary: The group makes a quick stop at Xandar, thinking it's the next world as part of their quest. They couldn't be more right, but before they could do anything, they get into a fight with some outlaws, and are all thrown in some prison. Pretty soon, they're escaping and facing off against a crazy Kree zealot, his allies, and even Maleficent. Along the way, they finally get some clarity on the Infinity Stones... but it isn't all good...
Relationships: Donald Duck & Goofy & Player Character & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Donald Duck & Goofy & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Donald Duck & Goofy (Kingdom Hearts) & Guardians of the Galaxy Team, Sora & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Sora (Kingdom Hearts) & Guardians of the Galaxy Team, Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts) & Guardians of the Galaxy Team
Series: Light and Avengers [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1479848
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	1. Landing on Xandar

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, Donald and Goofy are in on the action, and Sora's back helping with the Marvel stories. Luckily, they'll be joining in on the next few, as well, so they get some more light from this point on in these

"Well, I'm glad to not have a tail anymore," Vanitas admitted, resting his hands on the back of his head as he sat in his seat. "I don't get how some animals do it."

"To each is their own, I guess," Sora said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You'll probably never get it," Donald admitted. "One of those things where you'd have to be a permanent animal to understand, maybe."

"But humans are animals," Vanitas pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," Goofy said, looking up in thought. "Then that might not be what it is."

"Then what's a good explanation?" Donald asked, narrowing his eyes.

"We might not have one in this situation," Sora admitted.

"Go figure," Vanitas remarked. "Well, not having an explanation is better than giving a bogus one. Like when kids ask where babies come from."

The others laughed at that as they kept flying through the Lanes Between. The trip had turned pleasant not too long after they left the Pride Lands, changing a bit so it was similar to the Space around the Milky Way galaxy, which is what they remembered was what the solar system with Earth 616 was called. However, that planet was nowhere in sight on the ship's computer, so that meant they weren't gonna be seeing them anytime soon, which saddened both Sora and Vanitas. They wanted to see their old friends.

Donald's attention was soon drawn to the computer as a world then appeared on the screen. This one was designed sort of like Earth, with lots of blue and green, but designed differently so they knew it was different. Donald checked the database.

"This world is called Xandar," he announced.

Vanitas perked up at that.

"Holy shit, I've heard of that place," he announced. "They've been at war with the Kree for about a thousand years, and recently signed a treaty with them to end the conflict. Thing is, some crazy ass zealots have been protesting, and showing in great detail they're not fans of it."

Vanitas winced as he remembered hearing from Moogles about how bad things have been between the Kree and the Xandarians. Especially with the main Kree fanatic, Ronan. There was one dude that matched Ansem and Xehanort with how brutal they could be against innocents.

"Looks like they're doing all right now, though," Sora commented. "Let's check it out."

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed, looking towards the computer. "Now you get to see what people expect when they hear about other worlds."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were a little confused by that, but they brushed it off. They worked together in the cockpit and piloted it down to Xandar.

* * *

After exiting the ship, the group of four looked around in amazement at the sights around them. Large alien buildings that rose up in the air, many fountains of water around various, beautiful pieces of greenery around them. And then there was the people. Sora looked like he was about to cream himself in excitement at the sight of all the various aliens around them.

"Now I see what you mean," Sora admitted.

Not only was there people that just looked like humans with brightly colored skin, but people that were very clearly aliens, some with obvious details that don't belong to humans, along with other bits. They even passed by an anthropomorphic raccoon talking to a living tree creature. The raccoon was insulting people around them while the tree drank the water from a fountain that was spraying up.

"You guys know that guy?" Vanitas smirked, gesturing to the raccoon.

"I don't think so," Donald admitted. "He isn't dressed like someone from Disney Town."

"He doesn't sound like one, either," Goofy pointed out, listening to the loud way the raccoon insulted people around them.

"Yeah, he sounds like a dick," Vanitas commented, crossing his arms. He then smiled. "I like him already."

He looked over to Sora, who had gone wide eyed and was staring at a taller alien with three eyes, gils, and a purple snout nose. The alien looked at Sora, and anger grew on his face.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" he asked.

"Um... uh..." Sora stammered out nervously.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," Vanitas said, walking over and grabbing Sora by his shoulders, turning him away. "First time leaving home, he's easy to amaze. Won't happen again."

He laughed awkwardly to try to ease the tension as he led Sora away with Donald and Goofy following suit.

"Don't stare, man," Vanitas instructed. "Like you just saw, people consider it rude."

"Sorry, it's just..." Sora stammered out. "Aliens. Real, live, aliens!" *** _1_ ***

"To them, we're the aliens," Vanitas pointed out as they went up some stairs to a walkway near some pods. "Now stop saying that, or they're gonna start thinking you're speciesist."

"Can't have that," Donald commented.

"Although, I do see where you're coming from," Vanitas admitted, looking at Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they reached a part on the walkway. "Seeing other people with just different skin colors and talking anthropomorphic animals is much different from meeting things like that fucking tree back there."

"Whatever the case," Goofy said. "Where do you fellahs think we should start looking first?"

"Well, there don't seem to be any sign of Heartless around," Donald said, looking over the railing next to them at the crowd of people.

"And no Maleficent or Pete," Vanitas said. "And no visible sign of Organization XIII."

Their attentions were drawn to down the path they were on to see a normal man in red and brown clothes get kicked a bunch by a green skinned woman with black hair and black clothes. The woman ran down the walkway a bit more, pushing through people as the man chased after her. The three of them watched as the two of them stumbled to the ground, punching and kicking until the woman straddled the man and pulled back her knife. But then the raccoon from tackled the woman off the man as the living tree walked over with a sack.

"What the heck?" Sora asked, looking from Vanitas to the altercation.

"Put him in the bag! Put him in the bag!" the raccoon instructed the tree. Vines grew from the tree's body and started wrapping around the woman's body. "No, not her, him! Learn genders, man!"

The raccoon climbed onto the woman's head as she yelled out. He held onto the side of her face, and she bit his fingers, making him cry out in pain.

"Biting?" the raccoon asked. "That's not fair."

The man in red picked up a silver orb off the ground, but then stopped in his place as Shadows appeared in front of him. A gunshot then rang out, and one Shadow was destroyed. He looked over his shoulder past the other three to see Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy run towards the group with their weapons drawn.

"Run," Vanitas announced, cocking his single action revolver. "We got these things!"

The man didn't hesitate and started bolting down the overhead bridge they were on. Vanitas fired at a Shadow as Donald blasted Blizzard at another one. Soldiers then appeared, and Sora fought one off with a combo attack. Goofy spun around in circles while attacking with his shield, before Vanitas grabbed another one and fired right into the open mask.

While they fought off the Heartless, the green skinned woman burst her arms through the tree's vines, then threw the raccoon off of her. The raccoon ended up crashing into a glass small shopping stand as she picked up a knife. She then looked up at the four who had just taken out the Heartless and were looking at her.

"You all right?" Donald asked.

"Have those things been a big problem around-" Vanitas started to say.

The woman cut him off by kicking him right in the groin. Vanitas cried out in pain as a random surge that made him feel something chose _that_ moment to flare up. He groaned as he fell to his knees, and his friends placed their hands over their own groins and winced in pain, feeling bad for him.

The woman then threw her knife through the air, where it hit the man in red's hand, and making him drop the orb off of the bridge and down to the main area. She then extended out her sword, slashed the tree to knock it back, and jumped off the bridge onto the ground below.

Vanitas groaned a bit more before the feelings disappeared, making most of the pain end. He growled out as he stood back up and watched the woman run across the ground below and pick up the orb.

"Oh, she done fucked up," Vanitas growled.

He jumped over the railing and ran after the woman, slipping his machete out of its sheath as he ran after the woman.

"Hey!" Vanitas called out.

The woman turned around as she ran and saw the ravenette closing in with his machete. She extended her sword again, and blocked against the machete swing. The two of them slashed their blades at each other, before Vanitas got smart and kicked her in her leg. It didn't have much of an affect, and she kicked him right in the stomach. Vanitas coughed out to prevent much pain from happening, then he grabbed both of the woman's hands. He pulled her in close, kicked her in the stomach, and smacked her in the face with the flat of his blade, knocking her to the ground and making the orb clatter to the ground.

Vanitas then got a better look of the orb, and he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at it. His powers flared slightly, and he knew that there was something important, something... incredibly powerful inside.

But he spent too long staring, so the woman kicked him in the knee, making him stumble to the ground. She then picked the orb back up and started running back across the area, but then the man jumped over the bridge and tackled her to the ground. He held her down for a second before she rolled them over and kneeled down onto him.

"Fool," she insulted. "You should have learned."

"I don't learn," the man said. "One of my issues."

Vanitas watched as he attached a small rocket onto her back, take the orb, and ignited the rocket, making her fly across the area and into another fountain.

"Nice job," Vanitas complimented as he and the man stood up.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy jumped off the bridge and ran over to join them as the tree then slipped the sack over the man, soon enough picking him up.

"Hey!" Vanitas exclaimed.

A blast then shot out, knocking Vanitas back a bit.

"Hey!" Donald shot out as he ran up towards the raccoon, who was lowering his blaster from where Vanitas was standing. "What was that for!?"

"Nothing's getting in the way of our bounty!" the raccoon yelled as he pointed his blaster towards the other three. "Get 'em, Groot!"

He pointed his blaster at them, and Sora and Goofy behind the shield, blocking the blast. Donald then charged at the raccoon. He blasted Blizzard, knocking the raccoon back a bit, while the tree, Groot, extended vines out to grab Sora and Goofy. The vines surrounded their arms, pinning them to the sides. Donald then swung his staff at the raccoon's head, but he ducked and then smacked him in the face with his blaster. The raccoon then shot his blaster at Donald, knocking him onto the ground, next to his struggling friends.

Groot then picked up the sack carrying the man in both hands and slipped it over his shoulder, like he was a more nefarious Santa Claus.

"Quit smiling, you idiot," the raccoon told him as he attached his blaster back onto his back and led him down a set of stairs. "You're supposed to be a professional."

He stopped as he saw the green woman walking towards him.

"You've gotta be kidding me," the raccoon sighed out.

The woman pushed him out of the way and started hacking at Groot's arms, making the other three wince as they watched the tree get his arms cut off. Sora could understand why in the watching crowd, an older woman covered some young children's eyes. This was just _wrong_.

Groot dropped the sack with the man in it, so the woman retracted her sword and attached it to her belt. Vanitas then jumped out from nowhere and tackled the woman to the ground. They stumbled along the ground a bit, before she kneed Vanitas in the stomach and pushed him off, roughly. Vanitas rolled next to the nearby stairs, while the woman slipped open the sack. But then the man inside shot out an electric bolt in his blaster, making the woman fall to the ground, stunned.

"Dude, nice job," Vanitas praised as he placed his hand on the back of his head in pain.

The man then started running back down the road, with the sack slipping along his legs and onto the ground.

"I live for the simple things," the raccoon said, slipping his blaster into his hands and extending it. "Like how much this is gonna hurt.

He fired electricity out of his blaster, which flew through the air and hit the man right in the back. Electricity surged around the man, making him cry out in pain before falling to the ground.

"Yeah," the raccoon said. "Writhe, little man."

"You dick!" Vanitas said, standing up.

Groot whimpered as he looked down at his limbs that were hacked off.

"It'll grow back, you d'ast idiot," the raccoon told him. "Quit whining."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran down next to Vanitas and stood in their battle stances. All of a sudden, golden light appeared around them all, the off worlder quartet, the raccoon, Groot, and the unconscious green skinned woman. Sora, Donald, and Goofy got the message and dropped their weapons onto the ground as they floated up in the air. Looking around, they saw that multiple Xandarian star shaped ships were floating up in the air surrounding them.

" _Subject 89P13, drop your weapon_ ," a voice from one of the ships announced.

"Aw, crap," the raccoon said, dropping his blaster onto the ground.

" _By the authority of the Nova Corps, you are under arrest for endangerment to life and the destruction of property_ ," the man continued.

"Looks like constantly getting into fights every time we show up on a world we don't know is finally catching up to us," Vanitas quipped to his friends to try to ease the tension.

It didn't work. Donald and Goofy still winced in fright as Sora saw the man from earlier get picked up by people in uniforms and dragged away.

"Fascists," the raccoon commented.

"Douche bag," Vanitas told the raccoon as more people in uniforms surrounded them, pointing their blasters at the two groups.

"Would you believe this is all a big misunderstanding?" Sora asked.

Pretty soon, they were all apprehended by the police, and set up in the stereotypical line up, but with more of a technological advance. The cops, Denarians Dey and Saal, started it with the green skinned woman.

"Gamora," Dey read out as the computer presented the diagnostics. "Surgically modified and raised as a living weapon. Adopted daughter of the Mad Titan, Thanos."

This made the quartet look at each other with wide eyes. They remembered the name Thanos from Maleficent's beratement of Pete. They looked towards Gamora with narrowed eyes. Could she give them a hint about this "Mad Titan"?

Vanitas's eyes narrowed as he recognized that Gamora was a Zehoberei, but remembered also hearing from the Moogles that the people on that world were in desolude after someone slaughtered half their population years ago. Things got worse each year until the last known report showed that most of the population was dead. Could she have been the last of her people? *** _2_ ***

"Recently, Thanos lent her and her sister Nebula to Ronan..." Dey continued, breaking them out of their thoughts. "...which leads us to believe that Thanos and Ronan are working together."

The lineup slid down on its own, so it was now the raccoon.

"Subject 89P13," Denarian Dey read out. "Calls itself 'Rocket.' The result of illegal genetic and cybernetic experiments on a lower life form."

Rocket spit on the ground with his arms crossed, before the line up slid down so it was now Groot.

"What the hell?" Saal asked.

"They call it 'Groot'," Dey announced. "A humanoid plant that's been traveling recently as 89P13's personal houseplant/muscle."

Groot walked forwards a bit to get a better look of the cops before the line up slid down again, so it was the man in the red.

"Peter Jason Quill, from Terra," Dey announced. As he talked, Peter did the whole "pretending to roll up a line so he could give them the finger" gag. "Raised from youth by a band of mercenaries called the Ravengers, led by Yondu Udonta."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Peter said in shock, looking up at Dey and Saal. "I didn't know how this thing worked."

"What a bunch of a-holes," Saal commented as Dey laughed.

The line slid down again, so Vanitas was in place, looking at Peter with narrowed eyes.

"Dude, it's just..." he gave the finger to Dey and Saal. "It's not that hard."

"Vanitas Francis Jordan," Dey read out as Vanitas lowered his hand, and his friends muttered "Francis?" in confusion. "Youngest Keyblade Master in decades, but he lost all his powers. Over the years, he's been helping save people from Heartless against the forces of Maleficent, another ally of Thanos."

"Yeah, see?" Vanitas asked, gesturing to them. "I'm a good guy, a hero."

"There's also 47 accounts of attempted murder," Dey read out. "Along with over two hundred accounts of damage to property, several of assault, and more than a few maimings." *** _3_ ***

Vanitas paused and slipped his hand into his pocket.

"That's fair," he admitted, as the line slid down so Sora was in place.

"Sora Derrik," Dey read out. Vanitas muttered "Derrik?" in confusion. "Unknown information on him." The line slid down for Donald and Goofy. "Same with Donald Duck and Goofy. There are old records of them on other worlds many years back, but they're all unclear."

"There's really not much on you guys?" Vanitas muttered to Donald and Goofy. "You guys are both in your 80's. You'd think that'd give you guys some coverage around the galaxy."

"You'd think," Donald agreed, also confused.

"Transport all eight to the Kyln to await sentencing," Saal ordered before he turned and started walking away.

Vanitas went wide eyed at that and looked at the two through the electric barricade.

"Denarian Saal," Dey called out, getting the man to stop and face him. "With all due respect, sir."

The two of them realized that apparently, the Occulight device on Dey's chest was off, so they both messed with it for a second before it was back on.

"What I was gonna say was, the Kyln is a barbaric place," Dey announced. "Especially for that kid, he probably wouldn't last a day."

"Corpsman Dey, I'm fully aware of your concern..." Saal told him. "...but our local cells aren't enough for these prisoners..."

"Sir," Dey tried interrupting, to no avail.

"So for now, the Kyln will have to do," Saal finished.

"We're going to prison!?" Donald asked in fear, looking up at his taller friends.

"Let's... stay calm," Sora tried reassuring them. "We've been in bad situations before, we can handle this. It's just a prison. Right, V?"

He looked next to him at Vanitas, who was looking down in equal horror with wide eyes.

"We're all gonna die," Vanitas announced, gravely.

Sora's attempted reassuring smile faded.

"Aw, crap," Donald sighed out, dread in his voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 I feel this would be a normal reaction for Sora, since at this point he's only met Disney characters, which are mostly just talking animals, a skeleton, and regular humans. Even when they see the few monsters they meet on Halloween Town, he's surprised. So, meeting alien creatures like what they encounter on Xandar, I feel that he'd be very surprised
> 
> *2 Yeah, in the movie, they actually showed in the whole "police lineup thing" that Gamora was the last of her people. So, I guess Thanos didn't really think the whole "kill half of all life so they'd survive" thing through. Come to think of it, continuity error, or do you think Thanos lied to Gamora in that one scene in Infinity War?
> 
> *3 He might have been helping Leon, Yuffie, and them over the nine years to save people from Heartless, but while he was also on a rampage, it makes sense that he wouldn't be the cleanest at that
> 
> After doing so many long AF chapters lately, it actually feels weird to do a shorter one again. Anyone else ever experience that before?
> 
> Ah, this is gonna be a fun one. And remember what I mentioned back in Chapter 10 back in II, Maleficent is allies with Ronan and Thanos, which is something we'll see in this story. Add a bit more flesh to the story to make this really feel like it's part of the game. Of course, that doesn't mean that it's an entirely stable relationship between her and Thanos, though...


	2. The Kyln

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once the two groups reach the Kyln, they plan out their escape together, while trouble brews elsewhere with one of their old enemies...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad to have back the range for some originality while also pretty much just adding Kingdom Hearts characters into Marvel movies

The outlaws and the Gummi quartet were transported via Nova ship to the high security prison of the Kyln. Vanitas mentally prepared himself for what he was gonna have to protect both himself and his friends from, because he remembered hearing from the Moogles that they kept some pretty dangerous people locked away in this place.

Pretty soon, the ship attached to a side of the prison, and a door slid open. The two groups were taken out of their seats and guided down the hallway by guards. They all had futuristic handcuffs on to prevent them from grabbing anything nearby. If there was ever a moment that Vanitas's telekinesis could have flared and allowed him to slip them off of him and his friends, he wished it had been six opportunities the guards provided him during the flight.

"I guess most of Nova Corps wanna uphold the laws, but these ones here, they're corrupt and cruel," Rocket announced as they walked down the hallway led by guards. He chuckled, "But hey, that's not my problem. I ain't gonna be here long. I've escaped 22 prisons. This one's no different."

"My ass," Vanitas commented. "That corrupt and cruel isn't just from the prisoners. The guards could be bought with just four or five units to look away if you wanted to kill someone in cold blood here."

Donald and Goofy gulped and Sora went pale in fright.

"Well, you guys are lucky," Peter commented. "Not like you guys are hardened criminals."

"Like that's ever stopped prisoners," Vanitas commented. "You ever seen prison movies?"

"Yeah," Peter admitted.

"It's worse than that," Vanitas told him. " _Much_ worse. No one drop the soap. Trust me, it will not end well."

"Well, anyway, you're lucky the broad and kids showed up," Rocket told Peter. "Because otherwise, me and Groot would be collecting that bounty right now, and you'd be getting drawn and quartered by Yondu and those Ravengers."

"Wait, I thought Yondu and the Ravengers have been raising you," Sora said, confused. "If they've been doing that, why would they put a bounty on your head?"

"They stole me from my home," Peter told them. "Trained me to steal 'cause I was small and skinny, said that was good for thieving."

"Sounds like what this girl I once dated said to justify her robbing a jewelry store," Vanitas commented, frowning in thought.

"Yuffie robbed a jewelry store?" Donald asked.

"She was fourteen, it was on a different world," Vanitas muttered back. "Everyone does the 'teenage rebellion' in their own ways."

"Well, I've had a lot of folks try to kill me over the years," Peter told Rocket as they walked through a small room. "I ain't about to be brought down by a tree and a talking raccoon."

"Hold!" a guard instructed, stopping them in their places.

"What's a raccoon?" Rocket asked.

"'What's a raccoon'?" Peter asked. "It's what you are, stupid."

"Ain't no thing like me, except me," Rocket proudly announced.

"We need to take this guy to Earth," Vanitas told his friends. "We will freak him out so bad."

The door in front of them opened, and the guards started leading them into the new hallway.

"So," Peter started. "This Orb has a real shiny blue suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon sort of vibe."

"I love this guy," Vanitas whispered to Sora with wide eyes, causing Sora to chuckle.

"What is it?" Peter asked Gamora.

"I am Groot," Groot told him.

"So what?" Peter asked Groot before looking at Gamora again. "What's the Orb?"

"I have no words for an honorless thief," Gamora blankly told him without looking at him.

"A daughter of the Mad Titan is gonna lecture someone about honor?" Vanitas countered, narrowing his eyes at her with his friends.

They might not have known much about Thanos at the moment, but just knowing he was allied with Maleficent gave them the idea that he was bad news. And they could especially tell he was bad news when even _Maleficent_ was afraid of him.

"What he said," Rocket agreed. "That's pretty high and mighty coming from the lackey of a genocidal maniac."

Gamora looked at Rocket, then the other quartet with shock, before she put a blank face on as she looked forwards while they kept walking.

"Yeah, I know who you are," Rocket told her. "Anyone who's anyone knows who you are."

"Yeah, we know who you are," Peter lied. He muttered to Groot, "Who is she?"

"I am Groot," Groot answered.

"Yeah, you said that," Peter told him.

"We don't really know, either," Sora muttered to Peter. "But this Thanos guy is apparently pals with our old enemy, Maleficent. So we know that he's bad news."

"Wait, Maleficent?" Gamora said, looking over her shoulder at them in surprise. "You're the Keyblade Masters and their lackeys?"

"Yeah," Vanitas said, as Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded their heads in confirmation.

" _You're_ the ones who defeated Maleficent and stopped darkness from spreading all across the galaxy?" Gamora asked, in shock and confusion. *** _1_ ***

"Why is everyone so surprised by that?" Vanitas casually asked his friends, who were equally interested in finding the answer to that question.

"I wasn't retrieving the Orb for Ronan," Gamora sighed out in resignation as the guards stopped them in their places again. "I was betraying him. I had an agreement to sell it to a third party."

The door opened in front of them, leading them into a hallway that wrapped around the evidence locker, where a blue skinned guard was going through their stuff that was on each of their personal bodies, including Peter's pouch, Donald and Goofy's hats and Vanitas's sling and ammo pouch. Luckily, Vanitas had already put an enhancement on his sling when he got it so that he was the only one it worked for. Sora, Donald, and Goofy also let kept their weapons there, figuring that it wouldn't be the brightest move to let the guards know they could summon them at a moments notice.

"I am Groot," Groot said as they walked into the hallway.

"Well, that's just as fascinating as the first 89 times you told me that," Peter told Groot in annoyance. "What is wrong with Giving Tree, here?"

"Giving Tree," Vanitas laughed with his friends.

"Well, he don't know talking good like me and you," Rocket told them. "So his vocabulistics is limited to 'I' and 'am' and 'Groot'. Exclusively in that order."

"Sounds like my uncle Howard when he drinks too much," Vanitas said, looking up with a slight smile. "Aw, I miss that fucker."

"I tell you what, that's gonna wear real thin, real fast," Peter announced, looking into the doorway into the evidence room next to them. His eyes widened when he saw that the guard had picked up his Walkman and was lifting the headphones up to his head. "Hey. Put that away."

The guard ignored him, and Peter walked into the room just as the door slid shut.

"Hey," Peter announced as the guards all looked at him with wide eyes, while the others watched through the bars separating them from the room. "Listen to me, you big blue bastard. Take those headphones off. That's mine. Those belong to impound."

"Pretty sure they're not allowed to take prisoner's belongings," Goofy commented as the guard placed down the Walkman and picked up a rod.

"They're not," Sora confirmed. "Definitely corrupt."

"That tape and that player is mine!" Peter announced.

The guard then yelled as he jabbed the rod right into Peter's stomach, electrocuting him. Peter cried out in pain as he fell to his knees. He still looked up, even though he was breathless.

" _Hooked on a feeling_ , Blue Swede, 1973," Peter listed off. "That song belongs to me!"

"Technically, it belongs to Björn Skifs," Vanitas quipped to try to lighten the tension.

It didn't work. The guard jabbed the rod into Peter again, electrocuting him so much he fell onto the ground. Vanitas and his friends winced as they watched the guard continue to electrocute him even as he was on the ground.

Pretty soon, they were stripped down to their underwear and thrown in the decontamination center, where they were sprayed down with orange liquid. Once that was done, the guards threw them one at a time into a small room to change into prison clothes.

"Ah!" Vanitas exclaimed as he was thrown in the room. He turned towards the guards. "That's it, I am gonna..."

He started to walk towards them threateningly, but then drones came down from above and surrounded his head, pointing their guns at it.

"Never mind," Vanitas said in a small voice.

He sat down next to Peter and slipped the yellow shirt and pants on, and the others were soon thrown in one at a time. Sora covered up quickly, embarrassed a bit to be shirtless next to Vanitas, who looked exactly like him but with a more fit body. Donald and Goofy followed, looking upset to have lost their clothes, especially their hats. Rocket then followed suit, and they saw various bits of metal in his back, signifying that _something_ happened to him at one point.

Pretty soon, they walked through the halls into a room where they were all given wrapped up pads to sleep on as they walked into the large main chamber, with a large guard tower in the center, railings overhead that led to the many cells, and prisoners all around of various species looked towards the "fresh meat."

They walked up near some tables, Vanitas, Peter, Sora, Donald, and Goofy looking up in amazement at how many cells there were above them, when something hit one of them in the shoulder and landed on the ground. They looked up onto the second floor railing to see many prisoners shouting and yelling angrily while gesturing to Gamora, calling her a murderer and yelling that she was first. Pretty soon, prisoners all around were joining in yelling at her and throwing stuff at her.

"It's like I said, she's got a rep," Rocket announced as the two groups started to continue their walk together. "A lot of prisoners here have lost their families to Ronan and his goons. She'll last a day, tops."

"The guards will protect her, right?" Peter asked, with Sora wondering the same thing.

"They're here to stop us from getting out," Rocket pointed out. "They don't care what we do to each other inside."

"Plus, remember what I said earlier," Vanitas pointed out. "Some here can be paid off with just five units. Then, well, she's dead."

"That's kinda scary," Goofy said, unease in his eyes as he looked around at the many prisoners. He leaned down next to Donald. "You know, out of everybody back home, I more expected you to be the one to get thrown in prison over me."

"Me, too," Donald admitted, looking at the prisoners in fear. "But I figured it'd be a prison back home. Not this kind of place."

"Whatever nightmares the future holds, are dreams compared to what's behind me," Gamora told them.

"Good to know," Vanitas commented as he and Peter looked over their shoulders to look at her.

They turned so they were facing in front of themselves again, and Peter found himself face to face with a much taller blue skinned alien, looking down at him with interest.

"Check out the new meat," he commented. He ran a hand down the uncomfortable Peter's face as Groot walked up towards him. "I'm gonna slather you up in Gunavian jelly, and go to town..."

The alien was interrupted by Groot slipping his two vine fingers up his nose. He exclaimed in pain as Groot picked him up with one hand by the nose. The alien kept exclaiming as he futilely grabbed Groot's wrist to try to get him to let go, to no avail. The other prisoners quieted down as they watched this happen, while Rocket placed his sleeping mat down.

"Let's make something clear," he announced. He pointed at Peter. "This one here is our booty." Vanitas laughed as he realized Rocket didn't entirely know how that sounded. "You wanna get to him, you go through us! Or, more accurately, _we_ go through _you_."

Bones cracked in the alien's nose as Groot continued to lift him roughly in the air. Peter and the other quartet watched with wide eyes as Groot simply dropped the man onto the ground as he covered his bloodied nose with his hands, crying in pain. Rocket and Groot simply picked their sleeping pads back up and walked over and around the inmate.

"I'm with them," Peter announced, gesturing to the two before walking over the inmate after them.

"I hate you," he softly cried out on the ground.

"I almost feel bad for this guy," Vanitas admitted, before looking behind him to see a tall, pale skinned alien with long, brown hair and a burn mark on his face walk right towards him. "Oh, crap."

"What is it?" Sora asked, following his friend's gaze.

"I kinda put that guy in here with Leon and Yuffie about two years ago," Vanitas admitted as he put his own sleeping pad on the floor in preparation. "He swore revenge on us, and I have a feeling..."

He was interrupted by the tall man grabbing him by the shirt and lifting him up. Vanitas exclaimed in surprise as he rose up to eye level with the man's face.

"Vanitas Jordan," he growled out.

"Jarra, what's up, man?" Vanitas asked like he was greeting an old friend to try to lighten the tension. "What's it been, two years?"

"Twenty six months, fourteen days, six hours, and forty seven minutes," Jarra growled at him.

"Wow, doesn't time just fly?" Vanitas said, still smiling and chuckling.

"I really wish your friends could be here, so they could meet the same end that you're about to meet," Jarra announced. "But I guess I'll have to settle with also making your little brother meet that end, as well."

"Okay, look, he isn't my brother," Vanitas said in annoyance, gesturing to Sora, as the other prisoners, including Peter, Rocket, and Groot watched. "And second..." He trailed off, then chuckled as he looked down at his friends. "You know what I just remembered?"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked curious.

"I can do this," Vanitas announced.

He pointed his hand at Jarra, and fire shot out, completely covering his face, head, and torso. Jarra exclaimed in fright and dropped Vanitas to his feet. Jarra got down on the ground and started rolling trying to put out the fire. Other prisoners soon joined in waved rags at him and tried pouring their drinks on him to get rid of the fire. Vanitas looked down at Jarra, then up at his friends.

"I was scared for a second," Vanitas said. "With how things have been acting up, I was worried that that was one that was fading. Especially after they didn't work in Atlantica and Pride Lands. Didn't occur to me that that was just the parameters of those worlds." *** _2_ ***

He chuckled as he picked up his sleeping pad and faced his friends.

"And he's with me!" Rocket announced gleefully, gesturing to Vanitas.

The quartet laughed and followed Rocket, Groot, and Peter across the cells. Sora looked around to see Gamora going into a cell of her own, where prisoners kept harassing her, saying that she was gonna die pretty soon. Once the prisoners cleared up enough, he was able to see one lone prisoner sitting at one of the tables, staring up at her in her cell intently.

This prisoner was shirtless, with grey skin and red marks all along his torso and face. The incredibly buff nature of the guy's torso and arms made it clear that he was a pretty strong man, and Sora actually feared for Gamora when he saw how intently the guy was staring up at her cell.

"Man, I hope we get out of here soon..." Sora sighed out.

Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas all expressed similar thoughts with nods of the head.

* * *

Within hours, it was time for them all to sleep. The two groups of Rocket, Peter, and Groot and Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy climbed in with other inmates into a particularly small cell, where they were all expected to sleep. Vanitas pressed himself against a wall to sleep, saying he didn't want to "look like they had all just finished an orgy," whatever that meant. He was soon fast asleep with many of the other inmates, but Sora and Peter lay near the top of the pile of inmates, still awake as they stared up at the ceiling.

"This is why I outgrew sleepovers," Sora quipped to Peter.

"It's why my sleepovers are mostly with women," Peter quipped back, not liking how the inmate next to him was snuggling up to him.

Groot was another lucky one, having fallen asleep sitting on a chair. Donald and Goofy were also still awake, laying next to him and wondering how this ended up becoming their lives.

"I blame Vanitas," Donald muttered to Goofy.

"It's not his fault we got involved in that fight," Goofy told him.

"Don't care," Donald said. "He's the one who did all the illegal stuff and got himself arrested, dragging us along with him."

Their thoughts were drawn to a gravelly voice in the distance instructing, "Take her down to the showers. It'll be easier to clean up the blood down there."

The familiar sounds of a woman grunting garnered their attentions. Sora and Peter looked up at the door in front of them to see multiple prisoners leading Gamora, knife to her throat, across the walkway and probably down to the showers. Peter lifted the inmate's arm off of him and stood up, with Sora soon following suit.

Rocket popped his tired head up, confused and a little tired.

"Quill, where you going?" he asked.

"Sora?" Donald asked as the two of them started following the prisoners.

"Quill?" Rocket whisper yelled as he ran to the bars to look outside the cell with Donald. "Quill!"

"Classic Sora," Donald sighed out.

Rocket, Donald, and Goofy followed Peter and Sora as they followed the prisoners down to where the showers were. The prisoners pressed Gamora up to one of the showers, with three of them pointing knives at her neck. But then the grey skinned man that Sora saw earlier came in through another entrance.

"You dare?" he asked, and the inmates jumped in fear at the sight of him. "You know who I am, yes?"

"You're Drax," the lead prisoner said. "The Destroyer."

"Quill, Sora," Rocket whispered as the aforementioned two snuck into another door opening to watch what was happening, Donald and Goofy behind them.

"And you know why they call me this," Drax told the prisoners as he walked into the room with them.

"You slayed dozens of Ronan's minions," the lead prisoner said, fear in his voice.

"Ronan murdered my wife, Ovette," Drax told them, stopping next to the prisoners and looking at Gamora with hatred in his eyes. "And my daughter, Camaria. He slaughtered them where they stood. And he _laughed_!"

He yelled the last bit at the prisoner on his right, making the man jump in fear.

"Jesus," Donald muttered. "No wonder Vanitas told us to be careful if we meet that guy. He sounds like a sick bastard." *** _3_ ***

"Can you stop cussing?" Sora muttered to the duck as they kept watching.

"Quill? Sora?" Rocket whispered as they kept watching.

"Her life is not yours to take," Drax told one of the prisoners. "He killed my family." He looked at Gamora. "I shall kill one of his in return."

"Of course, Drax," the lead prisoner said. "Here, I..."

He offered his knife, which Drax took.

Gamora then kicked and hit the prisoners holding knives on either side of her. She took their knives and held them up to the necks of Drax and the lead prisoner, making them stop, and making the lead prisoner laugh nervously.

Peter and Sora slowly creeped into the doorway and into the room, worried for the girl.

"Quill! Sora!" Rocket whispered at them as they waved him off. "What are you doing?"

"Sora can't help it," Donald muttered to Rocket. "He always has to be a hero."

"I'm no family to Ronan or Thanos," Gamora told Drax. She slowly lowered the knives from the two men's throats then dropped them to the ground. She paused, before announcing, "I'm your only hope at stopping him."

Drax yelled out and grabbed her by her neck, pressing her up against the shower wall and pointing his knife at her neck.

"Woman, your words mean nothing to me!" he bellowed.

"Hey!" Peter called out in a "trying to calm down" voice as he and Sora walked in. "Hey, hey, hey! Hey!"

The lead prisoner backed up as Drax looked over at the two.

"Oh, crap," Rocket sighed out, covering his face in embarrassment.

"Welcome to our world," Donald muttered to Rocket, patting him on the shoulder.

"Let's try to be smart here," Sora said as he and Peter held up their hands in the attempted calming manner.

"You know, if killing Ronan is truly your sole purpose, I don't think this is the best way to go about it," Peter pointed out.

"Are you not the man and the brother of the other man this wench attempted to kill?" Drax asked them.

"He's not my brother..." Sora sighed out. "But I get how you made that mistake."

"Besides, she's hardly the first woman to try and do that to me," Peter admitted before chuckling. He then slid up his shirt to show an old scar on his upper stomach. "Look, this is from a smoking-hot Rajak girl." He slipped the shirt back down. "Stabbed me with a fork. Didn't like me skipping out on her at sunrise."

Sora frowned in confusion as Peter then pulled the collar of his shirt down a bit to show another scar on his collerbone.

"I got, right here, a Kree girl tried to rip out my thorax," Peter continued. Drax looked at Sora with similar confusion before looking at Gamora. "She caught me with this skinny little A'askavariian who worked in Nova records. I was trying to get information. You ever see an A'askavariian? They have tentacles, and needles for teeth. If you think I'm seriously interested in that..."

Drax looked right at him, still looking pretty prepared to stab Gamora in the neck.

"Peter, is it really this important that you're a player?" Sora asked with slight annoyance.

"Not really," Peter admitted, raising his hands in surrender at Drax. "You don't care. But here's the point. She betrayed Ronan. He's coming back for her." Drax looked at him. "And when he does, that's when you..."

He slid his finger across his throat to express his point, which even Sora understood.

"Why would I put my finger on his throat?" Drax asked, genuinely confused.

"What?" Peter and Sora asked one at a time.

His genuine confusion confused the two of them, along with Donald and Goofy.

"Oh, no it's a symbol," Peter explained, sliding his finger across his throat a couple of more times. "This is a symbol for you slicing his throat."

"I will not slice his throat," Drax announced. "I would cut his head clean off."

"It's a general expression for you killing somebody," Peter explained, putting his hands down for a second. He looked at the lead prisoner from earlier and did the gesture. "You've heard of this. You've seen this, right? You know what that is."

"Yeah, yeah," the prisoner said, before Drax looked at him and made him nervous. "No, no."

"Everyone knows," Peter said.

"Even I know," Sora agreed.

Peter was slightly annoyed by the prisoner saying no, but shook it off.

"What I'm saying is, you want to keep her alive," he announced. "Don't do his work for him."

"Otherwise, you might be getting praise from the man you want to murder," Sora added to emphasize the point.

Drax looked from them to Gamora. After a few seconds of staring, he dropped her to the ground, where she coughed from the neck pain. He looked at Sora and Peter, then down at the knife in his hand.

"I like your knife," Drax told the prisoner. "I'm keeping it."

He walked off, with the prisoner muttering in sadness, "That was my favorite knife."

Pretty soon, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were making their way back through the hallways towards the cell that the men were trying to sleep in earlier.

"Listen!" Peter told Gamora as she walked in front of them. "I could care less whether you live or whether you die."

"Then why stop the big guy?" Gamora asked.

"Simple," Peter told her. "You know where to sell my Orb."

"How are we gonna sell it when we and it are still in here?" Gamora asked.

Peter smirked and looked down at Rocket.

"My friend, Rocket, here has escaped 22 prisons," he announced.

"Oh, we're getting out," Rocket announced with his arms crossed. He looked up at Peter. "And then we're heading straight to Yondu to retrieve your bounty."

"How much was your buyer willing to pay you for my Orb?" Peter asked.

"...Four billion units," Gamora answered as Vanitas and Groot appeared behind the bars in the room next to them.

"What?" Rocket asked in shock.

"Holy shit," Peter said in amazement.

"Whoa..." Donald said in amazement before he smiled widely.

"That Orb is my opportunity to get away from Thanos and Ronan," Gamora told them as she looked at Peter. "If you free us, I'll lead you to the buyer directly, and we'll split the profit between the six of us."

"I am Groot," Groot announced, garnering their attentions.

"Seven of us," Rocket corrected her as he looked up at Groot in annoyance. "Asleep for the danger, awake for the money, as per frickin' usual."

"It pains me to say this, but we're not interested in money," Vanitas said, gesturing to himself and his friends.

"Speak for yourself!" Donald exclaimed.

"What I want is information," Vanitas announced. "There's something powerful in that Orb, and I can tell it'd be pretty dangerous. First, I want to know what is in that thing, and I wanna make sure that it doesn't end up in the wrong hands."

"Same," Sora admitted. "Plus, like I said, Thanos and Ronan are allied with our enemy, Maleficent."

"We wanna find out what their arrangement is, and what plans they have together," Goofy announced.

"Well, that'll be easy enough," Gamora admitted. "We'll split it five ways..." She gestured to the excited Donald. "And you'll get the answers you seek."

"Sounds like a plan," Vanitas admitted. "Now let's figure out how to break out of here..."

* * *

Elsewhere, in the ship of the Dark Aster, the Kree zealot Ronan was conversing with Thanos' vizier, The Other, with his two immediate allies in the room with him.

" _You have been betrayed, Ronan_ ," The Other told him.

"We know only that she has been captured," Ronan told The Other. "Gamora may yet recover the Orb."

" _No!_ " The Other corrected him. " _Our sources within the Kyln say Gamora has her own plans for the Orb. Your partnership with Thanos is at risk. Thanos required your presence. Now! And bring Maleficent! We know she is with you. Her enemies, the Keyblade Masters are with Gamora. Thanos demands her presence, as well_ _..._ "

The image faded, and Ronan looked from it with uncertainty to the ground. Behind him, Nebula stayed stone faced, and Maleficent had slight fear and uncertainty in her eyes.

"Oh, this will not be pleasant," Maleficent sighed out.

They traveled to the Sanctuary, the domain of Thanos. The three of them gathered around in front of the seat of Thanos, which was facing away from them. Maleficent and Ronan stood with The Other, their staff and hammer in hand, while Nebula messed with her bionic arm underneath her father's throne.

"With all due respect, Thanos, your daughter made this mess, and yet you summon me," Ronan pointed out.

"I would lower my voice, Accuser," The Other suggested.

"First, she lost a battle with some primitive, along with the interference with the Keyblade Masters," Ronan continued.

"Thanos put Gamora under your charge," The Other told him.

"Then she was apprehended by the Nova Corps," Ronan continued.

"You are the one here with nothing to show for it," The Other told him.

"Your sources say she meant to betray us the whole time!" Ronan yelled.

"Lower your tone!" The Other snapped at Ronan. "I may be your..."

Ronan pointed his hammer at The Other's head, and energy shot out. The Other's neck twisted around, killing him and making him fall to the ground. Maleficent and Nebula looked from Ronan to the throne as the former looked up at it.

"I only ask that you take this matter seriously," Ronan announced.

The throne started spinning around, revealing the very tall purple man in golden armor to them.

"The only matter I do not take seriously, boy, is you," Thanos announced. "Your politics bore me. Your demeanor is that of a pouty child. And, apparently, you alienated my favorite daughter, Gamora."

Nebula kept looking down at her cybernetic arm as he said that.

"I shall honor our agreement, Kree, _if_ you bring me the Orb," Thanos announced. "But return to me again empty-handed, and I will bathe the starways in your blood."

Ronan was silent at that.

"Now, Maleficent..." Thanos announced, looking towards the evil fairy.

"Almighty Thanos," Maleficent greeted with a smile to try to lighten the tension. "To what do I owe this long awaited reunion?"

"You are failing your part of the agreement, fairy," Thanos told her. "I honored the deal with Xehanort all those years ago to give you the means to travel from your home world, as long as you gathered the seven hearts of light and prepared an army of dark beings. And I honored it, even when Xehanort lost his heart."

"But it's not my fault," Maleficent defended herself. "The Keyblade Masters have grown strong enough to stop my plans. The two of them incapacitated me for a year, leaving my underling in charge. If anyone is at fault here, it's my idiotic underling, and the two of them."

"Yes, the two Keyblade Masters," Thanos continued. "One of which gave Xehanort trouble all those years ago, and doesn't even have a Keyblade anymore. Because you failed to stop them, they managed to stop Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, from spreading the darkness. That means they couldn't help me with my conquest to take out half of all life. And now they are interfering with Xehanort's Nobody, Xemnas's plan for Kingdom Hearts. Without Xehanort, you answer to me."

Maleficent gulped in slight fear as he finished explaining.

"Your efforts are getting us nowhere," Thanos continued. "The Keyblade Masters are still foiling our plans. I will allow you one more chance to stop them. If you fail, our agreement is finished, and you will wish you were never revived."

"Y-yes... Thanos," Maleficent said with some uncertainty. "I have already provided Heartless to Ronan, so together, we will take out the Keyblade Masters, _and_ retrieve the Orb for you."

Nebula closed the metal part of her arm, covering the gears and wires again.

"Thanks, Dad. Sounds fair," she blankly announced as she walked towards Ronan and Maleficent. "This is one fight neither of you will win." She walked past them, announcing, "Let's head to the Kyln."

Ronan and Maleficent looked up at Thanos, who leaned back in his chair and smirked. The two of them turned and followed Nebula back to the ship, ready to end the threat to their plans and fulfill their agreements to the Mad Titan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 I figured that Thanos being allied with Maleficent meant he'd keep tabs on Sora and them after what she would tell him about them. The way I see it, it would make sense that he would keep track of their journey and learn about how they stopped Ansem that first time, and would pass the information to all his underlings. With only a name to the story, I feel it would also be natural that when they met the names, and found out who they are, they'd be shocked. Like in Empire, when there was that build up for Yoda, and he was revealed to be a small green person. Sure, he's still powerful, badass, and downright awesome, but he doesn't look like much. Just that much more of a trick to throw 'em off
> 
> *2 I realized that in the latest chapters, I've been forgetting to have him use fire, so I figured it was time for it to come back, along with an explanation for why it's been absent lately
> 
> *3 I figured Donald would be one of the Disney cartoon character more open to cussing
> 
> Yep. In this universe, Thanos is also allied with Xehanort, and was the one who helped Maleficent leave Enchanted Dominion as part of an agreement. I have read other fanfictions where he has other ties to the KH universe, like one where he was the one who took Kairi from Radiant Garden in the first place, but I decided to go in another direction with those connections. I figured this would be a good enough one


	3. Prison Break... Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The groups escape from prison and make their plans with the Orb...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it's a movie, meaning I can break up shorter bits into one chapter, I'm a bit more enthusiastic for writing than I was the last few chapters of the KH story. Especially since I can get to the good parts. I mean, I do like the worlds in KHII, but writing the story, they can feel like a little overkill, especially in the first half of the game. I just wanna get to the parts with the Organization and The World That Never Was. Luckily I can do exactly that once I finish this story

The next morning in the Kyln, the eight members of the two groups and made their plans as they filled their trays for breakfast.

"If we're gonna get out of here, we're gonna need to get into that watchtower," Rocket explained, gesturing to the tower in the center of the room. "And to do that, I'm gonna need a few things."

"Shoot," Vanitas told him as the last of them picked up their trays and started following him.

"The guards wear security bands to control their ins and outs," Rocket explained. "I need one."

"Leave it to me," Gamora announced.

"I'll help," Vanitas announced. "You're not the only one that's good at taking things connected to people's flesh off."

"Yeah, you should hear about how he lost his tattoos," Donald commented.

"Next, that dude, there," Rocket announced, gesturing to a slightly older man walking across from them with one robotic leg. "I need his prosthetic leg."

"His leg?" Peter asked, confusion on his and Sora's faces.

"Yeah," Rocket confirmed. "God knows I don't need the rest of him. Look at him, he's useless."

"All right," Peter agreed after a second.

"Ya oughta find nicer things ta say about people," Goofy commented as they all reached a table that was a short distance from the watchtower.

"Ditto," Rocket said. "And finally, on the wall back there is a black panel. Blinky yellow light. Do you see it?"

Rocket, Gamora, Peter, Sora, Vanitas, and Donald sat at the table, with Sora and Peter seeing the panel he was talking about.

"Yeah," Peter agreed.

"It's a little obvious," Sora commented.

"There's a quarnyx battery behind it," Rocket explained, not seeing Groot and Goofy set down their trays and walking over to the wall. "Purplish box, green wires. To get into that watchtower, I definitely need it."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Gamora asked.

"Well, supposably, these bald-bodies find you attractive," Rocket told her. "So, maybe you can work out some sort of trade."

"No, I heard they really find you attractive," Rocket told her as Peter and Sora looked up from the panel to him.

"Look, it's 20 feet up in the air, and it's in the middle of the most heavily guarded part of the prison," Peter pointed out.

"Yeah, is there any way we could actually get up there and get the battery without being seen?" Sora asked.

During this, Groot and Goofy reached the wall, and Groot started extending his legs to reach the panel. Drax walked over with a tray in his hands, and watched as Groot did that and Goofy looked around like he was keeping watch.

"Look, I got one plan, and that plan requires a frickin' quarnyx battery, so figure it out!" Rocket yelled the last bit.

Groot had ripped the cover off the panel and threw it to the side, where it hit a prisoner in the head and knocked him out. Vanitas quickly took notice of this, and went wide eyed.

"Can I get back to it?" Rocket asked. "Thanks."

"Uh, Rocket..." Vanitas started to say as Groot grabbed the battery and started pulling.

"Not now," Rocket told him. "Okay, this is important."

Drax looked around, surprised that no one else noticed what was going on as Groot started pulling the battery out of the panel, dragging along the other wires in the panel.

"Once the battery is removed, everything is gonna slam into emergency mode," Rocket continued as Groot tugged at the battery. "Once we have it, we gotta move quickly, so you definitely need to get that last."

Groot detached the battery from its wired manually, separating it. The light in the entire room changed darker and an alarm turned on, entering emergency mode just as Rocket said. The group around the table looked towards the front to see Groot and Goofy, with Groot gesturing with the battery to Rocket.

"Yeah, like I was trying to say, Groot stopped listening after you said where the battery was and went to retrieve it immediately," Vanitas told him, clasping his hands together with a fake smile. "But please, keep telling us about your plan."

Rocket turned back towards them, urgency on his face as he announced, "Or we could just get it first, and improvise."

"We'll get the armband," Gamora said as she stood up with Vanitas.

"Leg," Peter said as he and Sora stood up.

"Let's rock, mofos," Vanitas announced as they went their separate ways.

Rocket sighed out and covered his face with his hands in embarrassment.

"Join the club, man," Donald sighed out.

The drones from earlier then flew out through a doorway and started surrounding Groot, so Goofy broke the cover and summoned his shield. He raised it in preparation as the drones pointed their blasters at the two of them.

" _Prisoners_ ," a guard announced in the watchtower. " _Drop the device and the weapon immediately and retreat to your cells, or we will open fire._ "

The drones continued circling them, so vines started growing out of Groot again.

"I am... GROOT!" he yelled out, defiantly.

"What he said!" Goofy agreed, not knowing what he said, but understanding it was something good.

" _Fire!_ " the guard in the watchtower announced.

The drones started shooting, which didn't have that much of an effect on the living tree's body, or against Goofy's shield. Prisoners started scattering and running as the drones' fire started hitting walls around them wildly. Groot soon started smacking the drones aside, causing them to fly and blow up against walls. Goofy occasionally dodged behind Groot's legs, giving him enough cover to throw his shield and knock drones against the walls.

" _All prisoners return to your sleeping areas_ ," the guard in the watchtower instructed as Goofy and Groot knocked aside more drones.

Donald and Rocket dodged the drone fire as they made their way towards their friends. Donald summoned his staff and shot out Blizzard and Thunder, knocking back drones away from them as they got closer to Goofy and Groot. Rocket climbed up Groot's body so he was next to his friend's head.

"You idiot!" Rocket reprimanded. "How am I supposed to fight these things without my stuff?"

Groot made a shield of twigs appear on his forearms, which he held up to cover his face as the drones in front of him fired rapidly at him. Donald kept blasting magic and Goofy kept throwing his shield, but the drones were replaced almost as soon as they were destroyed.

Nearby, Drax noticed that the guards came out and were starting to aim their blasters up at Rocket. Knowing it would be in his best interest to help them, he yelled out and knocked aside the guards with punches, kicks, his own special aerobics, and throwing their blasters and other guards at each other. One even tried punching him in the face, but it didn't work, so he head butted the guard away. After knocking out the guards, he picked up a blaster and looked up at Rocket.

"Creepy little beast!" Drax called out, getting Rocket's attention.

Drax threw the blaster towards Rocket, and he caught it. He cocked the gun in preparation.

"Oh, yeah," Rocket said smoothly in preparation.

He started firing the blaster in rapid mode, yelling out with Groot, Donald and Goofy as they all took out the drones all around them. After a few seconds, Rocket laughed wickedly as they kept shooting, knocking, and blasting the drones.

In a cell on one of the floors, the older man with the prosthetic leg, looking up at Sora and Peter, who had made their request for his leg.

"You need my what?" he asked, as Sora looked uncomfortable.

On the walkways, Vanitas and Gamora ran along the path, dodging random flying drones and blasts from the guards' guns. They each had to admit that the other was pretty skilled in fighting. Gamora jumped up and kicked one guard in the head before dodging another one's blaster fire. Vanitas then ran in and grabbed the gun, smacking him in the face with it before twirling around and hitting him hard with the end of it. A bald one with a riot shield, but she knocked it out of his hand and managed to catch his arm with the wrist band, the one holding a weapon, under her leg.

"We need this," Gamora told him.

"Good luck," the guard told her, smugly. "It's internally wired."

"I'll figure something out," Gamora blankly told him.

"Shouldn't have said that, dude," Vanitas commented as she bent the arm, making the man cry out in pain.

Not too far away, Sora and Peter ran along another walkway, with Peter carrying the prosthetic leg. Sora summoned his Keyblade and carried it in his battle way, before they were stopped by a guard with a blaster coming from around the corner and pointing it at them.

"Drop the leg and the weapon!" he ordered them as they stopped and raised their hands in surrender. "Drop the leg and the weapon and move back to your cells!"

Peter made a move to place the leg on the ground, but then he swung it at the gun, knocking it to the side. He then swung it at the guard's head, knocking him out. Behind him, another guard was closing in, so Sora cast Magnet, raising the guard up into the air. He cried out in disdain before Sora swung his Keyblade at him. The guard fell to the ground, hard, and lost consciousness.

Peter then picked up the gun that was in front of him and pointed it at a drone that flew up in front of them. He fired it, destroying the drone. He then put the gun down and picked the leg back up.

"Is it always this easy to break out of prison?" Sora asked. "'Cause now I see why Rocket broke out of so many."

Back in the center of the room, Donald, Goofy, Rocket, and Groot continued to knock aside and destroy the drones around them, with Rocket laughing wickedly along the way.

"Rocket!" Gamora called out just as his gun went empty.

Rocket tossed the gun aside and turned towards Gamora. She threw the arm band towards him, and he caught it.

"Move to the watchtower!" Rocket instructed Groot.

Groot started doing exactly that while Rocket worked on combining the battery with the arm band. Goofy and Donald followed them along the ground, while Gamora and Vanitas leaped across the chasms between walkways to reach the one to the watchtower. Once Groot got close enough, he extended up his arm vines and acted as a ladder for the people on the ground. Rocket climbed up his friend, with Gamora and Vanitas helping him onto the walkway.

On the ground, Donald and Goofy started climbing up the tree, soon followed by Sora, who dismissed the Keyblade, and Peter, who tucked the prosthetic leg under his chin. They started making their way up, but then Sora and Peter stopped in their places as a drone flew right up to the latter's head and pointed its blaster.

Drax then leaped out out of nowhere and grabbed the drone, dragging it with him towards the ground. He grunted as he tore it in half with his bare hands before looking up at Sora and Peter.

"You!" Drax called out. "Clone and man who has lain with an A'askivariian!"

Sora chuckled out while Peter muttered, "It was one time, man."

They kept climbing up Groot, with Drax soon following suit.

Pretty soon, all nine of them were on the walkway, with the door to the watchtower sliding open in front of them. The guard turned around in fear to see Sora, Peter, Donald, Rocket, Gamora, and Vanitas in the front, and Goofy, Drax, and Groot in the back. He could tell by the angry looks on their faces, and the weapons in some of their hands, that he was in trouble.

The guard raised his hands in surrender, and Gamora lightly pushed him out of his chair. Groot then grabbed him with the vines in his arm, and threw him out of the room, where he landed roughly against a wall. The nine of them piled into the slightly cramped room, with the doors sliding shut behind them and Rocket quickly going to work at the computer. Gamora turned and was surprised to see Drax with them.

"Spare me your foul gaze, woman," Drax told her.

"Why is this one here?" Gamora asked Peter and Sora.

"We did promise him he could stay by your side until he kills your boss," Sora admitted.

"Yeah, and I always keep my promises when they're to muscle-bound whack-jobs who kill me if I don't," Peter remarked.

"Good philosophy," Goofy commented.

"Here you go," Peter told Rocket, placing the leg down next to him on the computer.

"Oh, I was just kidding about the leg," Rocket admitted with a smile. "I just need these two things."

"What?" Peter asked in surprise.

"Are you kidding?" Sora asked in equal surprise.

"No, I thought it'd be funny," Rocket admitted with a laugh. Besides him, Donald was the only one laughing. "Was it funny? Oh, wait, what did he look like hopping around?"

"I had to transfer him 30,000 units!" Peter snapped.

"You know how uncomfortable that conversation was!?" Sora snapped.

Rocket and Donald laughed as the former kept working on the computer.

"How are we going to leave?" Drax asked.

Gunfire erupted from a drone outside, hitting the glass on their right, but not shattering it. It still made them jump in surprise, though.

"Well, he's got a plan," Peter told him, gesturing to Rocket, who worked on the computer. "Right? Or is that another thing you made up?"

"I have a plan! I have a plan!" Rocket announced as he kept working on the computer.

"Cease your yammering and release us from this irksome confinement," Drax told him.

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with the walking thesaurus on that one," Peter admitted.

Drax shot him a death glare and announced, "Do not ever call me a thesaurus."

"It's just a metaphor, dude," Peter said.

"Everyone says one," Sora agreed.

"His people are completely literal," Rocket informed them. "Metaphors are gonna go over his head."

"Nothing goes over my head," Drax told him. "My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it."

"Can you show me how to get better at that?" Goofy asked. "It'll save me from getting hit in the head so much."

"That's gonna get annoying," Vanitas muttered.

"I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy," Gamora muttered to herself, upset.

Their attentions were soon drawn to the room below them. They saw through the glass that more guards in heavier armor with much bigger guns resembling bazookas had filed in and were facing the tower.

"Those are some big guns," Peter commented with slight nervousness.

"No pressure, Rocket," Vanitas said as the guards aimed their blasters. "But I think it's about to get really hot in here."

"On my command!" the lead guard instructed. "Number one!"

One of the blasters fired, causing a big explosion that cracked the glass slightly.

"Rodent, we are ready for your plan," Gamora quickly told him.

"Hold on!" Rocket told them as he kept working frantically at the console.

Donald and Goofy hugged each other in fear.

"I never got to tell Daisy I love her one last time!" Donald whined in fear as the guard outside called out, "Number Two!"

"I never got to see my son get married!" Goofy whined in equal fear.

"You have a son?" Vanitas asked, incredulously, while another blast hit the glass, cracking it some more. "And you never told us before?"

"I recognize this animal," Drax announced, gesturing to Rocket. "We'd roast them over a flame pit as children." He chuckled, "Their flesh was quite delicious."

"Not helping!" Rocket bellowed, looking over his shoulder at Drax.

"Number three!" the guard called outside.

Another one fired, and the explosion cracked more of the glass, so the drones started to get closer.

"This is gonna be very not good," Sora commented as the guard shouted "All fire on my command!"

The guard then counted down from three, making them even more nervous. Just as he called out "One," Rocket plugged two last wires together, and the sound of powering down rang out. All of a sudden, everything outside started floating up in the air. Guards, weapons, drones, random pieces of metal, prisoners in their cells, all started floating.

Gamora leaned over the console and looked out the windows.

"He turned off the artificial gravity, everywhere but in here," she assessed.

"Son of a bitch, that's impressive," Vanitas commented as Gamora chuckled in agreement.

Rocket hit a few more buttons, and the room they were in detached from the top of the tower. Groot smiled with pride as Rocket reprogrammed the drones outside to fly up to the chamber they were in and attach to the bottom. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy cheered as Rocket had the drones fly them forwards. Vanitas whooped in excitement as they sailed down like they were on a roller coaster, while the others exclaimed in surprise.

"I told you I had a plan," Rocket announced, smugly, as they travelled down near the doors.

A guard slammed into the window, but slid off pretty soon. Once they came to the doors, Gamora hit a button that made them slide open. Rocket continued to have the drones fly the observational tower across the long hallway, bumping into walls and causing more explosions along the way. They soon crashed into another set of closed doors, stopping completely. Rocket then hit a button, and closed the doors they came from earlier, keeping the guards away.

"That was a pretty good plan," Peter admitted.

"Pretty awesome," Sora commented.

"Huh?" Rocket asked, holding out his arms in a proud manner.

Peter and Vanitas kicked out the glass on one side of the observation room, and they quickly made their way to the room where their stuff was stored. The groups started opening boxes to get their equipment, and Donald and Goofy regarded their hats like they were gifts from God. Sora was in a similar manner when he got back his crown necklace, which was taken 'cause it was "too sharp."

"They've got no problem with the prisoners brandishing knives, but think my crown necklace is too sharp," Sora muttered in annoyance.

"Prison guards are idiots," Vanitas told him.

Peter had run across the room and was looking out the window to see the large hanger on the other side.

"Yeah!" he announced, pointing to his ship. "There it is. Get my ship. It's the _Milano_ , the orange and blue one over in the corner."

"The _Milano_?" Vanitas asked. "What, did you have a crush on Alyssa Milano when you were a kid?"

"Yeah," Peter simply said as he went to get his stuff. *** _1_ ***

"They crumpled my pants into a ball," Rocket complained to Drax. "That's rude! They folded yours."

He, Drax, Groot, Donald, and Goofy moved out of the room while Peter, Sora, Gamora, and Vanitas kept grabbing their stuff. Peter opened the box of his stuff and rummaged through it, seeing that the Orb was in the bag he had in there.

"The Orb's there," Gamora observed. "Let's go."

"Wait, wait, wait," Peter said as he kept rummaging through his stuff.

"What?" Gamora, Sora, and then Vanitas asked one at a time.

"That bastard didn't put it back," Peter announced.

"Put what back?" Gamora asked as Peter pulled his clothes and equipment out.

"Here," Peter said, offering her the bag that she saw had the Orb in it. "Get to the ship. I will be right back."

"What?" Sora asked, confused.

"How are you gonna possibly..." Gamora started to ask.

"Just keep the Milano close by," Peter told them. "Go. Go!"

He ran off, carrying his clothes.

"I'll go with him, make sure he doesn't get himself killed," Vanitas announced, changing into his robes as he ran. "Don't leave us behind, or I'll kill you guys!"

Gamora and Sora sighed out before they followed the others to the ship.

Meanwhile, Vanitas and Peter had managed to change back into their clothes, with Vanitas reattaching the sling to his back and sliding the bandana over his mouth and nose, and Peter making his mask appear over his face. Guards appeared in front of them in the hallway, and Peter had his blasters shoot out stunning orbs of electricity, knocking down the first two. The third one charged at them with a rod, and Vanitas caught his hands before kicking him in the stomach. Peter then shot another electric orb at a guard charging from the hallway next to them, before another one charged at them in front of them.

Vanitas kicked the one he was fighting, knocking him to the ground, and Peter shot another electric orb at the one in front of them, knocking him to the ground. The guard wasn't knocked out, but he hit the back of his head on the ground pretty bad.

"Ah, my neck!" he cried out as Peter and Vanitas walked down the hallway.

Vanitas simply kicked the man in the head as they passed him during their walk.

Back on the _Milano_ , the others had started the ship and piloted it around the Kyln, keeping it close to them like Peter and Vanitas had requested they do.

"Well, how are they gonna get to us?" Rocket asked as they all had gathered in the cockpit.

"They declined to share that information with me," Gamora admitted.

"Look, we know V," Sora said. "He always has a plan for something like this."

"Man, screw this!" Rocket announced, looking out the window in front of them. "I ain't waiting around for some humies with death wishes. You got the Orb, right?"

"Yes," Gamora said.

She opened the bag, and started rummaging through it to look for the Orb, but was confused to find that it wasn't in there.

"Oh, he's good," Donald commented, understanding what had happened.

Back in the Kyln, Vanitas and Peter were making their way through the now empty hallways, with Peter tossing the Orb up and catching it, like it was a simple ball.

"Nice," Vanitas commented. "Give the selfish ass raccoon a reason to stay here."

They went through the remaining hallways until they reached the room with the guard who had taken Peter's Walkman. The guard in question was slowly nodding his head to the song he was listening to over the headphones. Knowing someone was near him, the guard looked up and his eyes widened in shock to see Peter and Vanitas there. Peter hit the guard right in the head with the Orb, knocking him out.

Back on the _Milano_ , the people in the cockpit were arguing about what to do.

"If we don't leave now, we will be blown to bits," Rocket announced.

"No!" Gamora denied. "We're not leaving without the Orb."

"And we're not leaving V," Sora announced. "Besides, without the Orb, you can't get your share of the 4 billion units."

"Damn it, I hate it when people who piss me off make a good point!" Rocket complained, looking out the window in irritation.

"V says that a lot," Goofy commented.

Drax looked to his left out the window, and his attention was quickly drawn to the sight of Peter flying out of the Kyln with Vanitas holding on to his back through the space. He was legitimately amazed seeing the two flying towards the ship, Peter piloting them with the gears attached to his ankles. Luckily, with his lack of a life force, Vanitas was okay flying through the empty void, holding onto his companion's jacket along the way.

"Behold," Drax announced, getting the others to follow his gaze out the window.

Peter managed to get the two of them to the ship, and they climbed in through a port. Gamora, Drax, and Sora stood around it, helping the two in.

"These two show spirit," Drax announced as he helped Peter, and then Vanitas in. The mask on Peter's face retracted as he opened his jacket. "They shall make keen allies in the battle against Ronan."

"I was just making sure this guy didn't get himself killed," Vanitas admitted.

Drax turned his amazed gaze from him to Peter.

"Companion, what were you retrieving?" he asked

Peter took his Walkman out and handed it to Drax to hold. He took it as Peter walked away, Gamora sighing out in annoyance. Vanitas and Sora did their best to hide the smirks on their faces as the awe disappeared from Drax's, and he looked up to where Peter had walked away.

"You're an imbecile," Drax announced, and they let out their laughs.

* * *

Pretty soon, they were all dressed back in their usual clothes, and on course as far away from the Kyln as possible. Along the way, Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy had explained a bit about themselves and their latest journey across the stars. The five others were surprised to say the least to hear about what they had faced so far and how they had saved all worlds not too long ago. After a while, they started to get bored, so to pass the time, Rocket took apart a few devices and started building something. What it was, the others couldn't figure out. Nevertheless, it still annoyed Peter.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter called out, walking over as Rocket pulled some wires out of the floor. "Yo, ranger Rick! What are you doing? You can't take apart my ship without asking me! See, what is this?"

He kneeled down to grab something, but Rocket stopped him.

"Don't touch that," he instructed, and Peter stood back up. "It's a bomb."

"A bomb?" Peter asked, incredulously.

"A bomb!?" Donald and Goofy asked in fear.

"Yup," Rocket nonchalantly told them.

"And you leave it lying around?" Peter asked, still incredulous.

"Yeah, dude, even I made sure my bombs are in a steady place," Vanitas commented.

"I was gonna put it in a box," Rocket assured them as he opened a drawer.

"What's a box gonna do?" Peter asked.

"How about this one?" Rocket asked, pulling out a small box in gift wrapping with a blue sash around it.

"No!" Peter denied, so Rocket put it down. "Whoa. Hey." He kicked the drawer shut as he snapped, "Leave it alone!"

"Why, what's in it?" Rocket asked.

"Shut up!" Peter told him.

"Hey!" Rocket said, raising his hands in surrender.

"Something personal?" Sora asked, and Peter sighed out before offering a slight nod of the head. "Got it. Won't ask again."

"What is that?" Peter asked, gesturing to what Rocket was building.

"That's for if things get really hardcore," Rocket answered, looking up at him. "Or if you wanna blow up moons."

"That seems like a little much," Sora commented, and his friends nodded in agreement.

"No one's blowing up moons," Gamora announced.

"You just wanna suck the joy out of everything," Rocket muttered in annoyance as he continued building.

"So, listen, I'm gonna need your buyer's coordinates," Peter told Gamora as he walked to the main device next to the table, setting the Orb down on it.

"We're heading in the right direction," Gamora told him, picking up the Orb. "For now."

"Yeah, that's a detailed response," Donald commented in sarcasm.

Vanitas smiled in pride at his friend. His sarcastic nature was catching on!

"If we're gonna work together, you might try trusting me a little bit," Peter told her.

"Yeah, after we became a team, we managed to get stuff done a lot easier when V started trusting us," Sora pointed out.

"And how much do you trust me?" Gamora pointed out, holding up the Orb.

"I'd trust you a lot more if you told me what this was," Peter commented, taking the Orb in his own hand. "'Cause I'm guessing it's some kind of weapon."

He set it down on the table.

"I don't know what it is," Gamora admitted as Drax took the Orb and the others gathered around the table.

"V said that he could sense immense power coming from within," Goofy announced. "So it's gotta be something big."

"I am Groot," Groot commented. *** _2_ ***

"Don't I know it," Vanitas agreed, shaking his head with his arms crossed. "Then I'd be able to tell us what it is."

"You speak Groot?" Rocket asked, surprised.

Vanitas looked at him, and widened his eyes in surprise. He then looked at everyone else.

"Apparently," he said before shaking off the surprise. He muttered, "Pre amnesia..." in resignation.

"If it's a weapon, we should use it against Ronan," Drax announced, anger in his voice.

"Put it down, you fool," Gamora snapped. "You'll destroy us all."

Donald and Goofy then looked at Drax holding the Orb in slight fear, just because of Gamora's words.

"Or just you, murderess!" Drax countered.

"I let you live once, princess!" Gamora snapped walking to Drax to face him.

"I am not a princess!" Drax snapped back.

"Hey!" Peter announced, getting their attentions. "Nobody is killing anybody on my ship! We're stuck together until we get the money."

Drax had looked down, but then back up at Peter's words.

"I have no interest in money," Drax announced.

He tossed the Orb to Peter, who caught it. Donald and Goofy still winced in fear, though.

"Guys, I think we're all right for now," Sora muttered to them.

"Great," Peter said as Drax walked away from the table. "That means more money for the four of us."

Donald sighed out in relief, knowing he was still in on the deal. Groot then huffed out, getting their attentions.

"For the five of us," Peter sighed out, correcting himself. "Partners."

"We have an agreement, but I would never be partners with the likes of you," Gamora coldly told him.

"Big words coming from the daughter of a murderer," Vanitas pointed out with crossed arms. "Yeah, you might not have wanted to, but you waited until now to do something to defy him. What's that say about you?"

Gamora stayed silent as she shot him a death glare, but Vanitas never wavered, to her annoyance. She sighed out and looked at Peter.

"I'll tell the buyer we're on our way," Gamora told them. "Oh, and Quill? Your ship is filthy."

She started going up the stairs, missing Peter's proud smirk. Once she was out of earshot, he turned towards the others.

"Oh, she has no idea," Peter told them. "If I had a black light, this place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting."

"Ew..." Sora said, he Donald and Goofy exclaiming in disgust.

"You got issues, Quill," Rocket told Peter.

"Remind me to never introduce you to my brother," Vanitas commented.

"What, you're worried for your brother?" Peter asked.

"No, I'm worried for you," Vanitas told him. "He's a man whore who likes everybody he meets. You do not want to know how much he would love this place."

He walked away, leaving Peter to frown in confusion. Shrugging it off, the group went around the ship to prepare for wherever they'd arrive.

* * *

Back in the Kyln, Ronan, Maleficent, and Nebula had arrived and had forced all the prisoners and guards down with their forces. Ronan's Kree and Maleficent's Heartless held down guards as they questioned them.

"I swear," a guard with Nebula's sword at his neck insisted. "I don't know where they went! I swear."

"If he knew where they were headed, he would have already told us," Nebula pointed out.

"Especially after I scarred his pretty little face," Maleficent agreed, gesturing to the burn mark that she made as a form of torture to try to get him to talk.

"Yeah," the guard agreed as Nebula got a message alert along her cybernetic arms.

"Ronan, Maleficent, the Nova Corps sent a fleet to defend the prison," Nebula told them.

"Well, then, send Necrocraft to every corner of the quadrant," Ronan announced as he started walking down the hallway with Maleficent, Nebula soon following. "Find the Orb. Any means, any price."

"And this place?" Nebula asked.

"The Nova can't know what we're after," Ronan announced as one of his soldiers stabbed the guard they left behind. "Cleanse it!"

"With pleasure," Maleficent smirked, looking over the prisoners and guards with Nebula.

The two watched as the Kree and the Heartless started taking out prisoners and guards alike, one of them impassive to the death, and one looking forward to the eventual reunion with her old enemies. And hopefully, a chance to finally defeat them...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 They've confirmed that that's actually why he named the ship the _Milano_
> 
> *2 Here, Groot said, "If only your powers could act up and let you see what was inside it."
> 
> Trying to map out how much will be in each chapter can take a while


	4. Knowhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group meets the Collector, who explains to them about what's inside the Orb...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a reveal that's been building up for the KH gang since... well, the Thor story

Along the flight to where Gamora's buyer was, the Gummi quartet managed to catch up to her.

"You still haven't explained," Sora told her. "What is Maleficent doing, palling around with Ronan and Thanos?"

"Thanos was in an agreement with an old Keyblade Master many years ago," Gamora explained. "He would liberate Maleficent from her home world of Enchanted Dominion, and in exchange, she would provide the Keyblade Master the means of spreading the darkness with the seven lights."

"What Keyblade Master wanted that?" Vanitas asked, even though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Master Xehanort," Gamora answered.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Donald grumbled in annoyance.

"You know of Xehanort?" Gamora asked.

"We fought against him when he called himself Ansem," Goofy told her. "He stole the name of the man who took in Vanitas while he had amnesia."

"Ansem," Gamora said in thought. "Oh, yeah, Xehanort's Heartless."

"His what?" Sora asked in confusion.

"Oh, yeah," Vanitas quickly said, pointing up, then wincing. "Did I forget to mention that part?"

"Yeah!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy said simultaneously.

"Ansem was Xehanort's Heartless, made after he gave up his heart back when Hollow Bastion fell," Vanitas told them. "His body, his Nobody, became the leader of Organization XIII, while his heart went looking for someone he could corrupt. Enter, Riku."

Sora winced at the memory of that.

"After he possessed Riku, then we beat him, the Heartless was able to become a physical being again," Vanitas told them. "Enter, Ansem."

"So what's the Nobody's name?" Donald asked.

"Xemnas," Vanitas and Gamora answered at once, surprising them.

"Thanos kept ties with both Ansem and Xemnas," she explained. "Making sure they kept up their parts of the bargain. After Maleficent failed with the seven lights, then you stopped Ansem from spreading the darkness on his own, he kept a closer eye on the Organization. After we heard of Maleficent's revival, well, he wasn't the happiest to learn that she was back, and trying again. Thanos only allows so many chances."

"So she might be in trouble against Thanos as well," Goofy assessed.

"If she weren't evil, I'd almost feel bad for her," Vanitas remarked.

"Agreed," Donald announced, crossing his arms.

Vanitas winced as he felt a vision coming on, for the first time in over a week. He gripped his head as the pain felt even stronger than usual. He saw a blue skinned man who he knew was this Yondu Udonta, along with his right hand man, Kraglin, talking to the Broker Peter tried to sell the Orb to. The Broker insisted he couldn't give away the identity of the buyer he had for the Orb, but then Yondu threatened him by whistling and making a pretty cool arrow fly up in front of his face. The vision then shifted to the buyer, who Vanitas swore looked familiar, telling his slave to get better at cleaning the cage with... a Dark Elf inside?

"Okay, I hope things start to make more sense once we meet this buyer of yours," Vanitas told Gamora.

After a while of flying, most of the group gathered up in the cockpit to fly, while Vanitas, Sora, and Peter prepared for whatever they'd find at wherever they went. Peter helped Vanitas by supplying him some spared of his ankle rockets.

"His best tendencies are flying, slashing, shooting, and throwing me great distances," Sora joked.

"Especially that last one," Vanitas laughed.

Peter laughed as he reloaded his blaster with electric stunning bolts.

"Head's up!" Rocket announced above them. "We're inbound."

The three of them walked up the stairs into the cockpit, and were amazed at the sight in front of them. In front of them was the green, yellowish orange emptiness of the void in front of them, along with a gigantic head with many ships flying around it.

"Whoa," Peter, then Vanitas, then Sora sighed out one at a time.

"Wow..." Donald and Goofy said in unison.

"What is it?" Drax asked.

"It's called Knowhere," Gamora told them. "The severed head of an ancient celestial being."

"Be weary heading in, rodent," she continued, sitting in one of the chairs. "There are no regulations whatsoever here."

"My kind of place," Vanitas commented with a smirk.

They flew the ship into what was the eye, over lots of large bits of civilizations. There were many, many other bits of civilization, and lots of advances buildings all around in the air. Everyone was amazed by the sights in front of them, especially Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy. They weren't used to New York and it's tall ass buildings, let alone a civilization like _this!_

They soon found a landing platform where they docked the ship. Pretty soon, they were walking through the crowds of people towards the meet site, with large, circular pods flying over them.

"Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers in to mine the organic matter within the skull," Gamora explained. "Bone, brain tissue, spinal fluid. All rare resources, highly values in black markets across the galaxy."

"That's kinda gross," Goofy commented.

"That's how black markets work," Vanitas informed him. "The grosser the better."

"Accurate description," Gamora agreed. "Anyway, it's dangerous and illegal work, suitable only for outlaws."

"Well, I come from a planet of outlaws," Peter admitted. "Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, John Stamos."

"Ghostface in Scream," Vanitas added, which confused Peter. "Oh, yeah. 1988. You don't know what Scream is."

"It sounds like a place, which I would like to visit," Drax informed them.

"Yeah, you should," Peter admitted.

"I want to hear him and Stark have a conversation," Sora muttered to his friends, causing them to laugh at the mental image. *** _1_ ***

Their attentions were then drawn by a group of small kids running up and start gesturing to them, asking for units.

"Watch your wallets," Peter informed them as the kids pushed through.

"Aw, it's all right," Goofy told him as the kids passed through.

One little girl walked up to Groot, who held out his hand. A flower grew in the palm of his hand, which he plucked out and offered to the girl. She took it and smiled gratefully before looking at it.

"Get out of here," Peter told the kids as they moved on.

"No one lost anything?" Sora asked.

"We're not stupid," Donald informed him, checking his pockets. "We know how to deal with..."

He stopped when he realized his pockets were empty of Potions and Ethers.

"Oh, son of a...!" Donald exclaimed, quacking incoherently in the last bit.

"Relax," Vanitas told him, placing a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. "Potions and Ethers are much cheaper than what we usually get at the shops."

Donald sighed out as Gamora led them to what looked like a backwoods nightclub, with lots of brightly colored rainbow lights on top.

"Your buyer's in there?" Rocket asked.

"We are to wait here for his representative," Gamora told them.

They watched as a bouncer pushed a man out of the doorway, right onto the ground.

"This is no respectable establishment," Drax announced. "What do you expect us to do while we wait?"

They quickly went inside, where Drax, Rocket, Groot, Donald, and Goofy were quickly drawn to a table where smaller aliens, Orloni, were battling. And they got really excited for it.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Drax exclaimed in excitement, pumping his fists.

They watched as the Orloni were chased by a larger alien, and fire blew out of parts along the table. The larger Orloni picked up the smaller Orloni in its mouth and started gulping it down, which made the smiles on Groot and Goofy's faces fade, and change into expressions of shock and horror.

"Yahoo!" Rocket exclaimed, gesturing with the drink cup he had.

"Oh, yeah!" Donald cheered, gesturing with a cup he also had.

The larger Orloni chased smaller ones across the table again, before getting its tail and throwing it up in the air. The larger Orloni caught the smaller one in its mouth, gulping it down quickly.

"My Orloni has won, as I won at all things!" Drax announced over the cheering. He lifted the drink cup he was holding, and the others followed his example. "Now let's put more of this liquid into our bodies."

"That's the first thing you said that wasn't bat-shit crazy!" Rocket announced, gleefully, gesturing with his drink again.

Sora and Vanitas, meanwhile, went off after Peter and Gamora as the latter stood at a railing, and the former walked towards her.

"300 munny says they end up kissing," Sora told Vanitas.

"If I waged against that, you'd be taking advantage of my powers not working, so I can't correctly guess the outcome," Vanitas told him.

"400 munny?" Sora asked.

"Done," Vanitas answered with little hesitation.

They watched as Peter walked up to Gamora, having paid for ship fuel.

"Man, you wouldn't believe what they charge for fuel out here," he complained to her as he joined her at looking over the railing. "I might actually lose money on this job."

"My connection is making us wait," Gamora informed him as she cleaned her sword.

"It's just a negotiation tactic," Peter told her, turning to face her. "Trust me, this is my specialty. Where yours is more, 'Stab, stab. Those are my terms.'"

Gamora smirked and looked at him.

"My father didn't stress diplomacy," she admitted.

"Thanos?" Peter asked.

Gamora looked at him darkly and announced, "He's not my father."

This got Peter, and (unknowingly to them) Sora and Vanitas to look at her seriously.

"When Thanos took my home world, he killed my parents in front of me," Gamora explained. "He tortured me, turned me into a weapon."

' _Sounds like a stand up guy_ ,' Sora thought, which Vanitas luckily heard in his head.

With all they had been hearing about Thanos lately, Vanitas couldn't help but wonder if there was something that he was missing about the mad man.

"When he said that he was going to destroy an entire planet for Ronan, I couldn't stand by and..." Gamora softly continued, trailing off and looking at Peter. Trying to change the conversation, she looked down at the Walkman and detached it from the belt. "Why would you risk your life for this?"

She clicked it, and a song started playing.

"My mother gave it to me," Peter admitted, which they could tell wasn't easy for him to admit as they saw the look on his face. "My mom liked sharing with me all the pop songs that she loved growing up. I happened to have it on me, when I was... The day that she... You know, when I left Earth."

He took the Walkman and reattached it to his belt.

"What do you do with it?" Gamora asked.

"Well, they're not used nowadays anymore," Vanitas muttered. "Now, people use i pods."

"Do?" Peter asked. "Nothing. You listen to it. Or you can dance."

"I'm a warrior and an assassin," Gamora told him. "I do not dance."

Sora and Vanitas were surprised that they didn't notice sooner that during their talk, Gamora had retracted her sword back into a small rod that she had placed on the railing.

"Really?" Peter asked with a knowing smile. "Well, on my planet, there's a legend about people like you. It's called... Footloose."

Vanitas had to do his best to laugh quietly and not give up their position.

"And in it..." Peter continued. "...a great hero, named Kevin Bacon, teaches an entire city full of people with sticks up their butts that dancing, well... It's the greatest thing there is."

"Who put the sticks up their butts?" Gamora asked, making Peter lose the point he was going for.

"What?" he asked. "No, that's just a..."

"That is cruel," Gamora told him.

"It's just a phrase people use," Peter told her as she gained a small smile that she then diminished.

Peter then slipped his headphones from around his neck and raised them up. With uncertainty on her face, Gamora let him slide them onto her ears, letting her hear the romantic song that had been playing for the past few minutes. He placed a hand to her side as he watched her listen.

"The melody is pleasant!" Gamora yelled at him.

He jumped in slight surprise, but then shook it off.

After a few seconds, they leaned closer and closer. Peter took Gamora's other hand in his and lifted it up as their faces got closer and closer together. Just before their lips could meet, and Vanitas could say goodbye to 400 munny, Gamora suddenly grabbed Peter by the chest, pushed him against the railing, and put a knife to his neck.

"No!" she bellowed.

"Ow!" Peter exclaimed. "What the hell?"

"I know who you are, Peter Quill!" Gamora snapped. "And I am not some starry-eyed waif here to succumb to your... Your pelvic sorcery!"

"That is not what's happening here," Peter admitted as Vanitas burst out laughing immediately.

"What would April say, Andy?" he joked, before pausing. He muttered, "Actually, she'd probably be proud of you for nailing aliens..." *** _2_ ***

Their attentions were drawn to the watching forms of Sora and Vanitas, just outside the doorway back inside.

"How long have you guys been standing there?" Peter asked, still being forced against the railing.

"Not long..." Sora sheepishly lied at the same time Vanitas answered, "The whole time."

Sora shot a look at Vanitas, but he wasn't affected by it at all.

"Hey, I was going for honest," Vanitas admitted. "Plus, _you're_ the one who made the bet."

Sora sighed out and handed Vanitas the munny. Gamora let Peter back up and lowered the knife from his neck. Their attentions were drawn back inside as the clamoring grew louder. They watched through the window as Groot was thrown onto the table. Drax then tackled him off with Donald hanging onto his back.

"Oh, no," Peter sighed out.

"What the hell are they doing?" Vanitas asked.

What they were doing was fighting. Drax was straddling Groot, punching him repeatedly, while Donald wrapped his legs around the back of the grey man's neck, ramming his fists into his head. Groot had vines fly out and start wrapping themselves around Drax's head, but he quickly broke them off and threw Donald off of his head. Goofy helped his friend up, then held him back as Rocket extended his blaster. Gamora, headphone less, ripped Drax off of Groot and stood him up.

"Stop it!" Gamora snapped at Drax.

Rocket extended the rest of his blaster and pointed it at Drax.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter and Sora said in unison, stepping between Rocket and Drax.

"What are you doing, man?" Sora asked.

"This vermin speaks of affairs he knows nothing about!" Drax snapped, gesturing to Rocket.

"That is true!" Rocket agreed.

"He has no respect!" Drax snapped again.

"That is also true!" Rocket agreed. *** _3_ ***

"Hold on! Hold on!" Peter announced, trying to calm them down.

"Keep calling me vermin, tough guy!" Rocket snapped as Vanitas and Goofy helped Groot stand up. "You just wanna laugh at me like everyone else!"

"Rocket, you're drunk," Peter told him.

"I'll say we are," Donald agreed, blinking woozily.

"All right?" Peter asked Rocket. "No one's laughing at you."

"He thinks I'm some stupid thing!" Rocket told him, letting his blaster fall so the end was resting on the ground. "He does! Well, I didn't ask to get made! I didn't ask to be torn apart, and put back together, over and over and turned into some..."

As he snapped at them, he looked down in sadness.

"Some little monster!" Rocket finished in disdain.

Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy instantly felt bad for him.

"Rocket, no one's calling you a monster," Peter assured him.

"He called me 'vermin'!" Rocket snapped, pointing at Drax. He pointed at Gamora and added, "She called me 'rodent'!"

He growled out, "Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your frickin' face!"

Rocket pointed his blaster at Drax again, who got angry and tried to rush forwards. Gamora held back Drax, as Peter and Sora moved in front of Rocket with their hands raised to try to calm him down.

"No, no, no, no!" Peter stammered out.

"Four billion units!" Sora reminded the raccoon. "Rocket!"

"Calm down, man," Peter agreed. "Hey! Suck it up for one more lousy night and you're rich."

Rocket looked at them in consideration before looking down with sadness and lowering his blaster.

"Fine," he admitted. "But I can't promise, when all this is over, I'm not gonna kill every last one of you jerks."

"See?" Peter asked, incredulously as he gestured to Rocket. "That's exactly why none of you have any friends!"

He looked over to Gamora and Drax and gestured to the two of them as well.

"Five seconds after you meet somebody, you're already trying to kill them!" Peter exclaimed.

"Yeah, even I know to let off the murder train for a bit," Vanitas agreed.

"We have travelled, halfway across the quadrant," Drax slurred out angrily. "And Ronan is no closer to being dead."

He backed away from Gamora and started pushing people aside on his way out of the building.

"Drax!" Peter called out.

"Let him go," Gamora told them. "We don't need him."

"I hate to say it, fellahs, but she's right," Goofy admitted as Groot waved Drax off. "We've got plenty of muscle in Groot and V. We should be all right."

A door then slid open nearby, revealing the pink skinned, brunette woman in the white dress Vanitas recognized from his vision, who he sensed was named Carina.

"Milady Gamora," she called out. "I'm here to fetch you for my master."

She gestured to the doorway, and the eight of them followed her down the halls. They soon reached a room that was very tall in height, with many different glass cages around, containing various objects and species.

"Okay, this isn't creepy at all," Rocket commented.

"Gawrsh, remind us not to linger around here for too long," Goofy told the others as he and Donald shuddered in fright.

"Don't worry," Vanitas assured them. "You're all right with us."

"We house the galaxy's largest collection of fauna, relics, and species of all manner," Carina explained with fake pride as she led them down the line.

"Cosmo?" Vanitas asked, seeing a dog in a Russian spacesuit in a cage they passed.

Rocket growled at Cosmo, who had started growling at him. Sora's attention was drawn to the cage opposite of the dog.

"That's a Chitari," he announced, getting his friends' attention.

They were a little impressed at the sight of a Chitari soldier in a cage, but shrugged it off as Carina led them to the center of the room, where all kinds of relics and statues were. She turned and faced them with a well practiced smile.

"I present to you, Taneleer Tivan, The Collector," Carina announced, gesturing to a white haired man nearby wearing weird looking goggles and a fur coat.

They reached the center of the room, and Tivan lowered the goggles to see them better as he walked over to them. Well, specifically, walked over to Gamora.

"Oh, my dear Gamora," Tivan said, taking her hand. "How wonderful to meet in the flesh."

"Let's bypass the formalities, Tivan," Gamora told him as he placed a kiss on her knuckles. "We have what we discussed."

Tivan's attention was drawn to Groot.

"What is that thing there?" he slowly asked.

"I am Groot," Groot answered.

Tivan walked over to Groot with interest in his eyes, making many of them nervous.

"I never thought I'd meet a Groot," he admitted as he walked up to face the living tree. "Sir, you must allow me to pay you now so that I may own your carcass. At the moment of your death, of course."

"I am Groot," Groot shrugged.

"Why, so he could turn you into a frickin' chair?" Rocket asked in annoyance.

"These your pets?" Tivan asked, gesturing to Rocket, Donald, and Goofy, making Peter, Sora, and Vanitas nervous.

"His what?" Rocket and the still drunk Donald snapped, reaching for their weapons.

"Tivan," Gamora walked up to the smirking man, stopping the two animals in their places. "We have been halfway around the galaxy, retrieving this Orb."

"Very well then," Tivan told her. "Let us see what you brought."

She looked towards Peter, who pulled out the Orb. He held it up with his right hand, but then it slipped out. Peter quickly leaned down and picked it back up, holding it out with his right hand once again, acting like that didn't happen.

' _Nice job staying in character, Pratt_ ,' Vanitas thought with a smirk. *** _4_ ***

Tivan took the Orb, and pretty soon, they set it up in a mechanism to have the gears open up to reveal to them what it was.

"Oh, my new friends," Tivan eagerly told them as they watched. "Before creation itself, there were six singularities."

He started the mechanism, which also caused little purple circles to appear all around them, serving as mini screens.

"Then the universe exploded into existence," Tivan continued, as the screens changed to show colors changing into six stones. "And the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots that existed alongside Kingdom Hearts."

On one of the screens, they could see that the six stones were yellow, blue, purple, orange, red, and green.

"Infinity Stones," Tivan answered for them as the orb continued opening, revealing purple light.

"That explains it..." Sora muttered.

"The Power Stone..." Vanitas muttered, recognizing the purple light.

The screens changed to show the Tesseract as the blue stone, and the Aether as the red stone. Groot gestured out to the screen with the blue cube, awestruck.

"These stones, it seems, can only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength," Tivan informed them. He gestured to a screen behind them. "Observe."

They all turned towards the screen to watch a giant carrying a giant staff with glowing purple at the end, no doubt signifying the Power Stone in front of them. People were running away from the giant in fear, as he lowered his staff.

"These carriers can use the Stone to mow down entire civilizations like wheat in a field," Tivan explained as the carrier on the screen did exactly that, pressing his staff into the ground. This took out the people fleeing, and soon enough, the entire world.

"There's a little pee coming out of me right now," Peter admitted in fear as Donald and Goofy gulped in nervousness.

"Me, too," Sora admitted in equal fear.

"Once, for a moment," Tivan continued as he looked at a screen with multiple people gathered in a circle, the same purple light around them. "A group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroyed by it."

And that happened on the screen. The people quickly erupted in purple fire that engulfed them all.

The Orb finished opening, and everyone's attention was drawn to it. The two groups, Carina, Tivan, and even the Dark Elf in a nearby cage. Tivan looked at it like it was beautiful, while the others stared in rightful fear.

"Beautiful," Tivan remarked with a shudder. "Beyond compare."

"Blah, blah, blah," Rocket announced in annoyance. "We're all very fascinated, whitey. But we'd like to get paid."

The screens all disappeared as Tivan turned to Rocket.

"How would you like to get paid?" Tivan asked.

"What do you think, fancy man?" Rocket asked. "Units!"

During this, Sora, Vanitas, a slightly sobering Donald, and Goofy were deep in conversation about the stones.

"So these things are what you were talking about the whole time?" Sora asked Vanitas.

"Yeah," Vanitas said. "I have slight memories about them."

"From before your amnesia?" Goofy asked.

"That," Vanitas agreed, reaching into his pocket to pull out a book. "Plus, this book, _Incredibly_ _Powerful, Mystical Objects From the Dawn of Time For Dummies_."

He pulled out the book and showed it to them.

"That's a good read," Donald commented.

"The six stones," Vanitas explained. "Are Mind, Space, Power..." He pointed to the purple stone. "...Reality, Time, and Soul."

"So the Tesseract was, what, the physical manifestation for the Space Stone?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, exactly," Vanitas confirmed. "Look at you getting smarter."

"But why'd the red one turn to sludge?" Goofy asked.

"That was the Reality Stone," Vanitas told them. "It turned into the Aether, that thing I told you I helped Thor produce from Malekith."

"So, the Space Stone and the Reality Stone are stored on Asgard?" Goofy asked.

"No, the soldiers took care of it," Vanitas told them. "They knew that having two Stones so close together would be a bad idea, so they brought it..."

He trailed off as he remembered the full scale of his vision. He then looked over at Tivan, who had opened a drawer and was reaching for units to pay the others with.

"Hold on a second," Vanitas called out, stopping the man in his tracks. The others watched as Vanitas walked up to face the white haired man. "Call me old fashioned, but I think it's a bad idea to keep two Infinity Stones in the same place."

"What?" Tivan asked, confused.

"The Aether," Vanitas told him. "The red stone, the Reality Stone, whatever the hell you want to call it... It was stored here by two soldiers from Asgard."

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," Tivan said, feigning ignorance.

"Don't lie to a telepath!" Vanitas snapped. "Lady Sif and Volstagg of the Warriors Three- one hell of a drinking buddy, by the way, but that's not the point -dropped the Aether here, saying that it would be unwise to have two Infinity Stones on the same world."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about..." Tivan tried faking again.

Vanitas grabbed Tivan and pulled him in close, so they were eye to eye.

"I just said don't lie to a telepath," Vanitas growled to him. "Now spill the beans: why are you after the Stones?"

Tivan stuttered a bit, but then his attention was drawn to Carina, who had walked closer to where the Power Stone was.

"Carina," he announced, breaking out of Vanitas's grasp and walking forwards a bit. "Stand back."

"I will no longer be your slave!" Carina announced.

"No!" Tivan exclaimed.

Vanitas couldn't tell if she actually thought she could use the Stone, or if she was just trying to kill herself. Whatever the case, Carina grabbed the Stone, and purple energy shot out and flew into everything, causing lots of explosions. Gamora tackled Peter in defense, and Vanitas did the same thing to Sora. Some even knocked Tivan through some of his own stands, which looked painful. As the energy continued to surge out, some of it surged up Carina, making her scream as it slowly destroyed her.

Rocket and Donald crawled along the floor, trying to shield themselves from the surging energy. Groot picked up Rocket, and Goofy picked up Donald, and together, they ran towards the door. Sora, Vanitas, Peter, and Gamora kept safe behind small stands as the energy kept surging around above them.

After more than a few seconds of suffering, the Stone made Carina explode, which released even more dangerous purple energy that surged all around, destroying many things around the room, and most of the room itself. Groot and Goofy managed to carry Rocket and Donald out of the entrance to the club just as the energy surged out of the doorway. All of them yelled out in fear as the energy exploded and surged around them.

After a few seconds, the energy cleared, and the air was still again. Back in the Collector's room, Sora, Vanitas, Gamora, and Peter peeked their heads up to look where Carina was, jaws dropped and eyes wide.

"What the f..." Peter started to say, but was cut off by sparks flying out of the wall behind them.

"Holy fucking shit," Vanitas muttered in horrified amazement.

They closed the Orb over the Stone again, and Vanitas did his best to look around to see if he could find the Aether. Sighing out in angry resignation that he couldn't find it, he followed his friends out of the room, giving Tivan the finger along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 We did get a pretty good one in IW, but man were we robbed of such great potential of a conversation between those two
> 
> *2 Yes, that's a Parks and Recreation references
> 
> *3 I love that part 😂
> 
> *4 Seriously, that wasn't scripted. Since he stayed in character while he actually dropped the Orb, they just left it in
> 
> Now that they know about the Stones, they're gonna be ready to protect people from them in the future. Another incentive of protection


	5. Battle Over Knowhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Drax makes a drunken mistake, the group has to face off against Ronan and Maleficent...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Drax, the simple minded. And his mind was only worse after he got drunk

Peter, Gamora, Sora, and Vanitas quickly ran through the ruins of the club, and out the door. Funnily enough, Cosmo led the way, somehow unaffected by the explosions and perfectly fine.

"How could I think Tivan could contain whatever was in the Orb?" Gamora asked with despair in her voice as they walked through the smoke and out the doorway.

"What do you still have it for?" Rocket asked in shock as he, Donald, Groot, and Goofy walked up to them.

"Something that powerful, we can't just leave it in some place where any dumb-ass can find it," Vanitas remarked.

"Yeah, like we could just leave it in there?" Peter asked, still in slight shock after witnessing all those explosions.

"I can't believe you had _that_ in your purse!" Rocket exclaimed, pointing to the Orb.

"It's not a purse, it's a knapsack!" Peter snapped.

"Not important, Peter!" Sora snapped, looking from Peter to Rocket and the Orb.

"We have to bring this to the Nova Corps," Gamora told them. "There's a chance they can contain it."

"Good luck to them with _that_ ," Donald sarcastically remarked, his drunken state completely gone.

"Are you kidding me?" Rocket snapped to Gamora. "We're wanted by the Nova Corps. Just give it to Ronan!"

"So he can destroy the galaxy?" Peter asked Rocket, angry.

"What are you, some saint all of a sudden?" Rocket asked. "What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you want to save it?"

"Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!" Peter snapped.

"Kind of good reason to do so!" Sora exclaimed.

"Peter, listen to me," Gamora said, getting the man's attention. "We cannot allow the Stone to fall into Ronan's hands. We have to go back to your ship, and deliver it to Nova."

"We're in," Vanitas announced. "We can't let anyone that evil get their hands on this thing."

"Maybe we could safeguard it back at the castle," Goofy suggested as Sora and Donald nodded with Vanitas. "We're apparently not on Ronan _or_ Thanos's radars."

"Right, right, okay," Peter told Gamora. "I think you're right." He placed a hand on the Orb in Gamora's hand during his next words. "Or, we could give it to somebody who's not going to arrest us, who's really nice, for a whole lot of money."

Gamora pulled the Orb away from Peter and stepped back from him.

"I think it's a really good balance between both of your points of view," Peter said, looking between Gamora and Rocket.

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Donald commented.

"You're despicable," Gamora blandly told Peter. "Dishonorable." She turned away from him and snapped, "Faithless!"

She started to walk away from them, and Sora prepared to call her back with promises that they'd do the right thing. But they all went wide eyed and stopped as they watched Kree ships fly down from high above and float down slightly above the alley in front of them.

"Oh, no," Gamora said as they watched Drax hold up his knives in excitement.

"This isn't good, right?" Sora asked.

"No, this is very, _very_ bad," Vanitas told him, and Donald and Goofy gulped in nervousness.

"At last!" Drax laughed out. "I shall meet my foe and destroy him."

"You called Ronan?" Peter asked in shock and slight fear.

"Never let that guy get drunk again," Sora announced.

One of the ships landed down with the entrance facing them, slowly turning off its engines. At the same time, down the alley, people that Vanitas recognized from his earlier vision, Yondu and the Ravengers, appeared between some people.

"Quill!" Yondu called out, getting Peter's attention. "Don't you move, boy!"

"Calm down, Grant Grant!" Vanitas called back. "We don't need you slaughtering dogs and cattle right now!" *** _1_ ***

Gamora looked to the side to see smaller ships used for the mining operations docked in stations, so she ran towards them. Peter followed, despite Yondu yelling, "Don't you move! Get out of the way!"

The rest of the group watched as Ronan walked out of the ship in front of them, along with multiple soldiers, including Nebula and Maleficent.

"Ronan the Accuser!" Drax called out.

"You are the one who transmitted the message?" Ronan asked.

"You killed my wife," Drax called out. "You killed my daughter!"

They watched as Ronan narrowed his eyes in thought at Drax. Vanitas then looked towards Peter and Gamora, seeing them get closer to the mining ships, and sighed out.

"Guys, make sure he doesn't get himself killed," Vanitas told them. "I'm gonna go help them get the Stone away from them."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded in agreement as Vanitas ran after the others. The three of them walked up next to Drax and stared down Maleficent and Ronan with them. Ronan frowned at the sight of the new three.

" _That_ is the Keyblade Master and his lackeys?" Ronan asked, gesturing to them and looking at Maleficent.

"The other one just ran off," Maleficent admitted, gesturing to Vanitas, who had just run off.

"These are the ones that defeated you and stopped Ansem?" Ronan asked, anger in his voice. "I thought we'd be facing a challenge."

The others ran up to the mining ships, with Gamora throwing a worker out and climbing in after him. Peter and Vanitas climbed into their own ships as Rocket started storing his stuff into a ship of his own.

"I told you, you can't fit," Rocket told Groot, who was staring at him. "Now, wait here, I'll be back."

"We'll make sure to bring him back," Vanitas assured the tree as the sides of the ships slid shut behind them.

They started piloting their mining ships up into the air and over the Kree ship, quickly getting the attentions of Nebula, Maleficent, and Ronan.

"It is Gamora," Nebula announced, telling the other two. "She is escaping with the Orb."

She yelled at two Kree soldiers in their native language, and they walked into the ship. Ronan turned away from Drax and started to walk towards the ship again, pissing him off.

"No!" Drax called out, springing towards him.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons as Maleficent made fire appear at the top of her staff. Drax ran around Maleficent and slashed at Ronan's head, which he ducked under.

"Nebula!" Ronan called into the ship as he straightened back up to face Drax. "Retrieve the Orb."

While the ship rose up into the air, Drax started slashing his knives at Ronan, which he dodged before pushing Drax to the ground. When Drax stood back up and kept slashing, Ronan kept dodging, but then knocked him pretty far back and into a wall, making a large indent.

At the same time, Sora, Donald and Goofy charged at Maleficent, dodging her blasts of green fire. When they got close enough, Sora blocked her swinging her staff at him, and attacked with a combo attack. He then jumped up and did an aerial combo, which ended with some pretty wicked looking slashes. Donald continuously blasted Thunder and Blizzard, Goofy threw his shield, then spun around attacking with his shield. Sora dodged out of the way as Maleficent blasted more fire before Goofy whacked her with his staff, and Goofy hit her in the face with his shield. *** _2_ ***

During all this, Peter, Gamora, Rocket, and Vanitas flew in their mining ships over the many cities of Knowhere, followed by Nebula and the other Kree ships. Vanitas sensed that they could tell which pod the Stone was in, the one Gamora was in, so the Kree directed their fire at that one. Gamora winced as she flew along the many tall parts of civilization around them, dodging the Kree. Luckily, she managed to trick one of them into crashing against a giant wall, blowing it up.

Back on the ground, Drax yelled out as he jumped up to kick Ronan, but got knocked out of the air. Drax stood back up and faced Ronan, who was circling him. He tried slashing his knives at Ronan, but then got them knocked out of both of his hands.

Meanwhile, Donald continuously blasted Blizzard at Maleficent, until he could feel his magic expenses ran out. Maleficent then hit him in the stomach with the end of her staff, before knocking him back with it, onto his back. Goofy charged at Maleficent in retaliation, swinging his shield at her. Maleficent backed away as the shield was swung at her many times. Sora then ran up to Donald and gave him an Elixer, which he quickly gulped down. Donald stood back up, cracked his neck in preparation, and picked his staff back up. He yelled out as he charged at Maleficent.

Back up in the air, Peter, Rocket, and Vanitas flew their pods up next to each other so they could talk a little better.

"Rocket, V, keep them off Gamora until she gets to the _Milano_ ," Peter told them.

"How?" Rocket asked. "We've got no weaponry on these things."

"Never stopped me before," Vanitas announced, holding up an MP5 in his left hand.

"These pods are industrial grade," Peter told them.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Vanitas asked.

"They're nearly indestructible," Peter informed them.

"Not against necroblasts, they're not," Rocket countered.

"That's not what I'm saying," Peter told him.

After a couple of seconds, Rocket quietly went "Oh!" in realization.

"Oh, this'll be better than bumper cars," Vanitas said with a wide smile.

Rocket flew his pod towards one of the Kree ships, which then knocked it against another one. The two ships flew down and crashed into the side of one of the large metal buildings, blowing them both up. Rocket balanced the pod again while Vanitas did the same thing to another Kree ship, laughing wildly along the way. That Kree ship then also blew up against another metal building, blowing it up, as well.

Rocket charged his pod towards another Kree ship, which was staring back at him. Rocket dodged the necroblasts and smashed his pod through it, blowing it up completely, but not damaging the pod. Vanitas continued laughing wildly as he followed Rocket in his ship.

Gamora was still having trouble getting away from the Kree ships, particularly since there were half a dozen of them following her. Vanitas flew up with Peter towards the ships. Peter landed on one and extended out the pod's arms, using them to manually take apart the ship. He then threw the pilot out and used the arms to take control of the ship. Still using the arms, he directed the ship up and used its blasters to fire necroblasts at some of the other Kree ships. 

Vanitas flew in front of one and opened up the glass of his own pod. He pointed his gun and fired rapidly into the cockpit of the ship, taking out the pilot. The ship then fell down towards the ground, where it exploded.

"Man, am I a good shot," Vanitas commented, sliding a new magazine into his gun while the front window of the pod slid shut.

Back on the ground, Ronan put Drax in a choke hold and held him up. Drax repeatedly hit Ronan, trying to get him to let go, to no avail. Ronan then yelled out as he lifted Drax up, flipped him, and slammed him to the ground.

"I don't recall killing your family," Ronan told Drax. He stood straight up and looked down at him. "I doubt I'll remember killing you, either."

Sora kept using combo attacks against Maleficent, knocking her around quite a bit. Goofy slid around on his shield like it was a sleigh again, repeatedly charging and attacking her. Donald whacked the witch with his staff quite a bit, while also dodging the blasts from her own green fire. Even when she tried blasting at them with meteors, they all missed because they moved out of the way. Donald blasted Thunder one more time, followed by Goofy throwing his shield, and Sora attacking her with his own fire. Maleficent was defeated, as she uttered, "You _must_ be kidding me!"

Maleficent then gripped the side of her chest with her free hand, wincing as she looked down. The other three still stood in their battle stances, facing her.

"Had enough, yet?" Sora taunted.

"I... must not lose..." Maleficent exclaimed, facing them with rage in her voice.

"Why?" Donald sarcastically asked. "Because then Thanos will take you back to your home world?"

"Don't you get it, yet?" Maleficent asked them. "I lost to you once, then Ansem failed, as well. I have no more chances to uphold the bargain."

"You're afraid of Thanos?" Goofy asked.

"Of course," Maleficent told them, actually sounding afraid. "He has plans to kill half the..."

She was cut off by Ronan throwing Drax over her head and at the trio. The grey skinned man crashed into the three, knocking them to the ground with exclaims of pain. Maleficent looked over her shoulder to see Ronan walking past her and towards them.

Donald stood up and tried to swing his staff at Ronan, who then caught it. He picked up Donald with his free hand and lifted him up before choke slamming him to the ground. Ronan then kicked Donald in the head, knocking him across the ground, into a wall far behind them. Goofy swing his shield at Ronan, who didn't even wince as it hit him in the face. Goofy held it up in defense as Ronan punched. Ronan's fist hit the shield, knocking him back and into another wall.

Sora stood up and in his battle stance, facing Ronan. He charged at Ronan, swinging his Keyblade at the taller man. Ronan dodged it, then kicked Sora right in the stomach. Since he was smaller than the man, Sora got knocked onto the ground. Ronan then kicked Sora in the face, then picked him up with both hands. He spun in a circle and threw Sora across the alley, causing the brunette to crash into the ground, hard.

"Now I wish you were stationed at Hollow Bastion the last time I faced them..." Maleficent muttered.

Back in the air, Gamora continued flying her pod across the atmosphere, away from the Kree ships. She bumped into a large part of cavern wall next to her, doing her best to dodge the necroblasts.

"Quill, I'm trapped," Gamora told them over the pod's speaker system. "I can't make it to the _Milano_." She knocked her pod into a Kree ship and flew up into the air. "I have to head out."

She flew her ship up and out of the entrance to Knowhere, with the ships still following her.

"Wait!" Peter called out, flying his ship after her. "These things aren't meant to go out there."

"There had to have been _some_ other way, right?" Vanitas asked.

Vanitas, Peter, and Rocket flew their pods out of Knowhere, after Gamora and the other Kree ships. The ravenette winced as he heard the conversation between Gamora and Nebula, who were apparently sisters.

"You are a disappointment, sister," Nebula told her. "Of all our siblings, I hated you least."

"Nebula, please," Gamora insisted. "If Ronan gets this Stone, he'll kill us all."

"Not all," Nebula corrected her. "You will all be dead."

The pain ended as Nebula shot a necroblast out of her ship, blowing up the pod Gamora was in. Time seemingly slowed down around the heroes as they looked out of their pods to see Gamora's unconscious form float out of the wreckage of her pod and into the empty void. Vanitas and Rocket watched, wide eyed, as the Orb flew up into the Dark Aster. The Kree ships retreated back up to the Dark Aster, their work done.

Back on the ground, Ronan dragged the unconscious but still writhing form of Drax across the dirt ground of the alley, then tossed him into a pond of yellow water. Getting the message, Donald and Goofy stayed down, acting like they were already dead while also watching Ronan. A ship floated down behind him as he kept staring at the pond as the bubbles signifying Drax's breath started to get smaller.

"Ronan, Maleficent, it is done," Nebula told Ronan over the speaker.

"Fantastic..." Maleficent said with a slight smile as she watched the pond with Ronan, before the two of them walked up to the ship behind them.

Back right outside of Knowhere, Peter continued to watch Gamora's unconscious form with Rocket and Vanitas, as frost started to grow on her.

"Didn't think this would be how she'd go out," Vanitas muttered.

"Quill, V, come on," Rocket told them. "Her body mods should keep her alive a couple more minutes, but there's nothing we can do for her. These pods aren't meant to be out here. In a second, we're gonna be in the same boat."

Rocket turned his pod around and started flying back to Knowhere. Peter kept staring at Gamora, and Vanitas looked at him, not even needing his telepathy to know what the man was thinking.

"Aw, damn it," Peter muttered, confirming what Vanitas was thinking.

"Quill? V?" Rocket asked, turning his pod to face them again.

"Yondu!" Peter yelled out of the intercom of his pod. "Yondu. This is Quill! My coordinates are 227K324."

"Quill," Rocket called out as he flew his pod back to join the other two. "Quill, what are you doing? V, stop him."

"I don't think there's anything I can do," Vanitas admitted as Peter kept listing his coordinates.

"Just outside Knowhere," Peter elaborated. "If you're out there, come get me. I'm all yours."

Peter turned on his mask and opened up his pod, flying out towards Gamora with his rockets.

"Damn it," Vanitas said, opening his own pod and flying after Peter with the rockets provided to him.

"Quill, don't be ridiculous," Rocket told them as they reached Gamora, who Peter took in his arms. "Get back in your pod! V is fine, what with the life force thing, but you can't fit two people in there."

Peter reached up for his mask as frost surrounded all three. Vanitas did his best to make fire appear around them to keep the frost off them, to no affect due to the lack of air.

"You're gonna die," Rocket announced as Peter's mask retracted. "You'll die in seconds! Quill."

Frost continued to gather around them as Peter activated his mask on Gamora's face. After a second, she gasped for air.

"Well, nice hero moment," Vanitas told Peter through the void, even though he was next to him. "But, now you're gonna die."

Lights then gathered around them, and they looked around to see many Ravenger ships similar to the _Milano_ surround them in the void as Rocket got out of there in his pod. The biggest one appeared in front of them, with Yondu staring at them through the front window, hands on his hips. A tractor beam then shot out underneath the window which surrounded the three and dragged them into the ship.

A wall slid open, and the three of them stumbled out, landing on the ground. Vanitas winced as he suddenly felt that, while Peter gasped for air as he lay on top of Gamora. The mask had retracted from her face, and she coughed out as she slowly started to breath again. Peter helped steady herself as her coughing reverted into heavy breathing, and the two looked at each other in the eye. Vanitas felt like he was third wheeling with how they looked at each other. He didn't mind it. He was already used to it after all those times on the clock tower with Roxas and Xion.

"Quill?" Gamora softly asked. "What happened?"

"I saw you out there," Peter softly answered. "I don't know what came over me. But I couldn't let you die."

Vanitas sat up as Gamora started to smile slightly at Peter.

"I found something inside of myself," Peter continued. "Something... incredibly heroic."

Vanitas smirked slightly and Gamora looked straight up as they both quickly understood where he was going with this.

"I mean, not to brag, but objectively..." Peter continued as Gamora sighed out and closed her eyes.

"Where's the Orb?" Gamora asked.

"It's..." Peter slowly got out. "Well, they got the Orb."

"What?" Gamora roughly asked.

"Still got a little Andy in you, huh?" Vanitas asked.

The sound of a door sliding open garnered their attentions. The three of them looked towards it to see Ravengers come to the doorway and point their blasters at them, with Kraglin being in the front of the group.

"Welcome home, Peter," Kraglin told them.

"Nice to see James likes giving his brother roles," Vanitas softly quipped.

This joke didn't lighten the tension, though. The Stone was in the hands of the bad guys, and they were trapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 That is a reference to Michael Rooker's role in James Gunn's first directorial feature, Slither. ***SPOILERS*** Concept of Night of the Creeps, and body horror of The Thing, along with a scene similar to the shunting from Society. Rooker played a guy who was taken over by the alien thing, and spread slugs that connected people to his "hive mind". Alien zombies, along with the main character being played by Nathan Fillion. I think it's a decent movie
> 
> *2 Exactly what II (and III) were missing: a battle against Maleficent. Had to have it at some point
> 
> Maximum wait time between chapters so far: three days. Managed to keep it up!


	6. Part of a Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang regroups, while trouble brews elsewhere...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm surprised this hasn't gotten many hits so far. This is a pretty good movie in the MCU; I thought it'd have higher numbers. Same with the WS and CM stories

Back on the ground of Knowhere, Sora, Donald, and Goofy managed to recover with some Mega-Potions and Mega-Ethers, replenishing their health and magic expanses. Once they were all healed up, they helped Groot pull Drax out of the yellow water and drop him onto the ground, still unconscious. Donald prepared his staff to use Cure, but stopped when he saw Groot was extending a vine on one of his fingers.

"Wait," Donald tried calling out. "Is that a good..."

He was cut off by Groot jabbing the vine into Drax's chest, making some of the yellow liquid spay out. Drax then started coughing out more of the liquid, before gasping for air.

"Never mind," Donald said as he dismissed his staff.

"Just take it slow," Sora told Drax, kneeling down next to him as Groot pulled the vine out of the grey man's chest.

They helped Drax into a position where he was holding himself up from the ground on his arms as one of the pods crashed on the ground in front of them. The door slid open, and they saw that Rocket was inside.

"Blasted idiots," Rocket muttered as he climbed out of the pod. "They're all idiots!" He jumped down and faced the others. "Quill and V just got themselves captured." He faced Drax with anger. "None of this ever would have if you didn't try to single-handedly take on a frickin' army!"

"Yeah, you need at least six to eight people to hold back an army," Goofy pointed out, remembering watching the Battle of New York from the SHIELD hospital bed with Donald. "Any less, and things might not end well."

Drax sighed out, "You're right."

He looked down in sadness as Rocket still looked at him, pissed.

"I was a fool," Drax softly muttered. "All the anger... all the rage... was just to cover my loss."

He looked down once again, and Groot put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Sora remembered what Vanitas told him about how darkness grew through a person's hate and rage, and he guessed that that was exactly what happened with Drax. He went to far trusting his darkness, and that made him fail in his quest. Sora placed a sympathetic look on Drax's other shoulder, and his friends shared a sad look.

Rocket, on the other hand, wasn't so supportive.

"Oh, boo-hoo-hoo," he mock whined. "'My wife and child are dead'."

Groot gasped in shock and covered his mouth with his other hand.

"Dude!" Sora exclaimed.

"What the hell?" Donald exclaimed as Goofy looked at Rocket in shock.

"Oh, I don't care if it's mean!" Rocket snapped. "Everybody's got dead people. It's no excuse to get everybody else dead along the way!"

Drax looked at him, then looked down. Groot, Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at Rocket in an accusatory manner as the raccoon looked down in shame.

"Come on, Groot," Rocket announced. "Ronan and Maleficent have the Stone. The only chance we got is to get to the other side of the universe as fast as we can and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to live full lives before those whack-jobs ever get there. Sora, Donald, Goofy, if you guys want a ride, we'll give you one."

Rocket continued looking around on the ground, before Groot stood straight up and announced, "I am Groot."

"Save them?" Rocket asked, looking up at the tree in shock. "How?"

"I am Groot," Groot told Rocket.

"I know they're the only friends that we ever had..." Rocket said. "But there's an army of Ravengers around them. And there's only two of us!"

"Three," Drax corrected him as he slowly pushed himself up onto his feet. He put a hand on Groot's back to signify that he was in.

"Four," Sora corrected him as he stood up, then put a hand on Drax's shoulder to signify he was in.

"Five," Goofy corrected him, also standing up.

"Six," Donald corrected him, also standing up and pumping a fist in preparation.

Rocket growled out in anger, realizing he was outnumbered. He continued growling as he looked around, then faced away from them as he started repeatedly kicking a grass patch in the ground.

Rocket growled out, "You're making... me... beat... up... grass!" *** _1_ ***

Sora and Donald chuckled slightly, while Goofy and Groot rolled their eyes at the raccoon's behavior. He might not be conventional, but at least he was on their side. That was just what they needed if they were gonna rescue their friends...

* * *

Back on the Dark Aster, Ronan and Maleficent were on a video call with Thanos, with Korath and Nebula watching. Thanos's face was projected on the wall in front of them, Ronan and Maleficent facing the Mad Titan, staff and hammer in hand, and the Orb in Korath's hand. He held it up as Ronan started talking.

"The Orb is in my possession, as I promised," Ronan told the purple man.

"And the Keyblade Masters have been defeated," Maleficent told Thanos. "Vanitas Jordan was apprehended by the Ravengers, and Ronan made short work of Sora, Donald, and Goofy."

"Yes, they were mere inconveniences in my way," Ronan boasted as he faced Korath. "How Maleficent fell to them no less than _three_ times, I do not understand."

"As long as they won't trouble us again," Thanos told them. "Now, bring me the Orb."

"Yes, that was our agreement," Ronan admitted as he traded Korath his hammer for the Orb. "Bring you the Orb, and you will destroy Xandar for me." He walked up to face the projection of Thanos. "However, now that I know it contains an Infinity Stone, I wonder what use I have for you."

"Boy, I would reconsider your current course," Thanos roughly told Ronan as the Kree gripped the Orb in both hands and slowly broke it in two, revealing the Power Stone.

"Master!" Korath called out as Ronan and Maleficent stared intently at the Power Stone. "You cannot! Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe."

"Not anymore," Ronan growled out.

He grabbed the Power Stone with his left hand, and howled out as the energy from the Stone forced his arms apart, shooting out energy, and causing more to flow through his body roughly, even cracking the floor he stood on. Nebula and Maleficent watched intently as the energy surged through Ronan. The Kree then faced Korath and held out his hand for his hammer. Thanos watched, stone faced through his projected image as Ronan slammed the hammer onto the Stone, transferring it and its energy into the weapon. Ronan exclaimed in his own triumph as the energy stopped surging through his body. Instead, a black outline appeared around him as he faced Thanos.

"You call me 'boy'!" Ronan bellowed in a voice slightly modulated from the leftover residue of the Stone. "I will unfurl 1,000 years of Kree justice on Xander, and burn it to its core! Then, Thanos, I am coming for you."

"After Xandar, you are going to kill my father?" Nebula asked as Ronan turned to face her and Maleficent.

"Do you or this witch dare to oppose me?" Ronan asked.

"You see what he has turned me into," Nebula told him. "If you kill him, I will help you destroy a thousand planets."

"And you?" Ronan asked Maleficent.

"Thanos was a means to an ends for me," Maleficent told the Kree. "His usefulness ended after he granted me access to other worlds. But I would rather not have the threat of what he would do to kill me over my head anymore. You would do me a great service by destroying him. And once you do that, I can help ensure that you still have Heartless helping your conquest, even make sure you do not become one yourself."

Ronan gave her a single nod, and they all moved on, preparing a course for Xandar...

* * *

On the Ravenger ship, things weren't going so well for Peter, Gamora, and Vanitas. The three of them were held by Ravengers as Yondu furiously beat on Peter, pissed at him for betraying them with the Orb.

"You betray me?" Yondu asked, punching Peter, who groaned in response. "Steal my money?"

"Stop it!" Gamora snapped as Yondu punched Peter again. "Leave him alone!"

" _Now_ my fire doesn't act up!?" Vanitas exclaimed as he tried setting Yondu ablaze to stop him from hitting Peter.

"When I picked you up as a kid..." Yondu told Peter, lifting his head so they were face to face. "These boys wanted to eat you. They ain't never tasted Terran before. I saved your life!"

"Oh, will you shut up about that?" Peter snapped back, annoyance on his face. "God! Twenty years, you been throwing that in my face, like it's some great thing, not eating me. Normal people don't even think about eating someone else! Much less that person having to be grateful for it!"

"Yeah, man!" Vanitas agreed. "Look at the Sawyers in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. And the mutant inbreds in the Wrong Turn series."

"What are you talking about?" Yondu and the Ravengers looking at Vanitas in confusion.

"Movie series back on Terra, or Earth," Vanitas said. "Place has changed a _lot_ since you took Peter from there."

"Whatever," Peter muttered before looking directly at Yondu. "You abducted me, man. You stole me from my home and my family."

"You don't give a damn about your Terra!" Yondu snapped. "You're scared... cause you're soft... in here."

He slapped himself on the chest with both hands.

"Here, right here!" Yondu slapped himself with both hands in the chest, then pushed Peter in the chest with both hands hard against the wall the Ravengers were holding him up at.

"Yondu!" Gamora called out. "Listen to me. Ronan has something called an Infinity Stone."

"I know what he's got, girl," Yondu said, narrowing his eyes as he looked from Peter to Gamora.

"Yeah, I have amnesia and went on a homicidal rampage for nine years, and even I knew what they are," Vanitas commented.

"Then you know we must get it back!" Gamora yelled at Yondu, while the Ravengers continued to hold her back. "He's gonna use it to wipe out Xandar. We have to warn them. Billions of people will perish."

"Is that what they've been filling your head with, boy?" Yondu asked Peter, looking at the younger man once again. "Sentiment?" He slapped Peter in the face, causing the other Ravengers to start laughing. During his next words he got in close and gripped both sides of Peter's face. "Eating away your brains like maggots?"

"She has," Vanitas admitted. "I've been filling his head with stories and warnings about my slutty older brother."

"You sound like you'd get along great in this group," Kraglin commented to Vanitas.

Yondu stepped back from Peter and shook his head.

"That's it," he muttered, moving his coat to the side to reveal the arrow.

Yondu whistled, and the arrow shot up in front of Peter's neck as the red part on his head glowed.

"No!" Gamora exclaimed.

"Sorry, boy," Yondu told Peter. During his next words, he faced away from Peter and towards his crew behind him. "But a captain's gotta teach his men what happens to those what cross him."

"Captain's gotta teach stuff!" Kraglin announced in agreement, causing Ravengers to yell, also in agreement.

Just as Yondu was about to whistle, Peter started talking. "If you kill me now, you are saying goodbye to the biggest score you have ever seen."

Yondu smiled as he turned back to look at Peter.

"The Stone?" he asked. "I hope you got something better than that. Because ain't nobody stealing from Ronan."

"We got a ringer," Peter told him.

"Is that right?" Yondu asked as Peter looked to Gamora and Vanitas.

"She knows everything there is to know about Ronan," Peter told them. "His ships, his army."

"He's vulnerable," Gamora told Yondu, who looked over at her.

"And V there is a Keyblade Master," Peter added, making Yondu and all the other Ravengers go wide eyed. "He's got a friend that's also a Keyblade Master, and two soldier friends. Together, they once defeated Maleficent and stopped all the darkness from spreading across the galaxy."

"We don't look like much, but we kick some major fucking ass," Vanitas announced as Yondu looked at him in consideration. "Think about how well this could profit you, Merle." *** _2_ ***

"Hey, what do you say, Yondu, huh?" Peter asked. "Me and you, taking down a mark side-by-side, like the old days."

He chuckled a bit, and waited as Yondu and the Ravengers stared at them in consideration. After a couple of seconds, Yondu whistled again, and the arrow flew back into its sheath. The blue man started laughing, and so did Peter.

"Let 'em go!" Yondu joyfully announced.

He reached forward to grab Peter's shoulders as they kept laughing, soon followed by all the other Ravengers.

"You always did have a scrote, boy!" Yondu announced, still joyful, as he put an arm around Peter's shoulders. Gamora strongly ripped her arms out of the Ravengers' hands, while others quickly let go of Vanitas. "That's why I kept you on as a young'un."

The entire ship then shook, causing them all to stop laughing as dust fell from the ceiling. The _Milano_ was outside the giant Ravenger ship they were on, firing blasts at the front. Everyone in the room ran through the halls and to the cockpit, to see what was going on.

"Captain, the shot was non-damaging," a pilot told Yondu as they ran into the room.

" _Attention, idiots,_ " Rocket's voice announced from the _Milano_ 's speakers.

Looking through the window of the ship, Vanitas, Peter, and Gamora were surprised to see Drax on top of the _Milano_ , mask over his face and a large gun in his hands.

" _The lunatic on top of this craft is holding a Hadron Enforcer,_ " Rocket announced through the speakers. " _A weapon of my own design._ "

" _For once, I'm actually on board with this plan,_ " Sora said over the speakers, eagerly.

" _This is gonna be_ awesome _!_ " Donald gushed over the speakers, also eager.

"What the hell?" Yondu, then Vanitas asked in confusion.

"What are those idiots doing?" Vanitas added.

" _If you don't hand over our companions now, he's gonna tear your ship a new one_ ," Rocket announced. " _A very big new one!_ "

"I ain't buyin' it," Yondu announced.

" _I'm giving you to the count of five,_ " Rocket announced. " _5, 4, 3..._ "

As he counted down, Vanitas, Peter, and Gamora yelled out various ways of saying no, with Peter exclaiming, "No! Wait, hold on..."

Peter ran to one pilot's chair and pressed a button, activating their own speakers.

"Rocket, it's he, for God's sakes!" he announced. "We figured it out. We're fine!"

"If you blow us up, I'm gonna kill all of you guys!" Vanitas yelled into the speaker, getting the point across.

" _Oh, hey, Quill and V,_ " Rocket simply and casually announced from the speakers. " _What's going on?_ "

" _You all right, V?_ " Goofy asked over the speakers.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Vanitas sighed out.

They docked the Milano in the hanger of the ship, and the two groups gathered together once again in a circular cargo room, where they formed a circle. Peter explained what had happened, and the deal with Yondu. Peter, Vanitas, and Gamora stood up, while Rocket, Groot, Drax, Sora, Donald, and Goofy sat on crates.

"You call that 'figured it out'?" Rocket asked. "We're gonna rob the guys who just beat us senseless."

"I've done it before," Vanitas commented.

"Oh, you wanna talk about senseless?" Peter asked. "How about trying to save us by blowing us up?"

"I got a little over excited," Sora admitted.

"So did I," Donald admitted.

"We were only gonna blow you up if they didn't turn you over," Rocket snapped.

"And how on earth were they gonna turn us over when you only gave them a count of five?" Peter countered.

"We might not have thought it completely through," Goofy admitted.

"Yeah, we didn't have time to work out the minutiae of the plan," Rocket snapped. He then looked at Groot. "This is what we get for acting altruistically."

"I am Groot," Groot told him.

"They are ungrateful," Rocket agreed.

"What's important now is we get the Ravengers' army to help us save Xandar," Gamora announced.

"So we can give the Stone to Yondu who's just gonna sell to somebody even worse?" Rocket asked.

"That's not gonna happen," Vanitas told him. "We've seen enough about these Stones to know we need to safeguard them."

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "We're not gonna let the Stone fall into the wrong hands."

"How?" Rocket asked, raising his arms in curiosity.

"We'll figure out that part later," Peter told him.

"We have to stop Ronan," Gamora announced.

"How?" Rocket asked again.

"I have a plan," Peter told the raccoon, getting his attention.

"You've got a plan?" Rocket asked.

"Yes," Peter slowly answered, making Sora and Vanitas look at him curiously.

"First of all, you're copying me from when I said I had a plan," Rocket told him.

"No, I'm not," Peter told him. "People say that all the time. It's not that unique of a thing to say."

"Secondly, I don't even believe you have a plan," Rocket announced.

"I have... part of a plan!" Peter announced.

"What percentage of a plan do you have?" Drax asked.

"You don't get to ask questions after the nonsense you pulled on Knowhere," Gamora snapped, pointing at Drax then lowering her hand.

"I just saved Quill and V," Drax told her, offended.

"We've already established that destroying the ship that we're on is not saving us," Peter told him.

"And I told you I would have killed you if you blew us up," Vanitas reminded him.

"When did we establish it?" Drax asked, confused.

"Like three seconds ago!" Peter snapped.

"I wasn't listening," Drax softly admitted before folding his hands in his lap. "I was thinking of something else."

Gamora groaned in annoyance.

"Listen, man!" Donald exclaimed.

"She's right," Rocket announced, pointing at Drax. "You don't get an opinion." He looked up at Peter. "What percentage?"

"I don't know," Peter admitted. "Twelve percent."

"Twelve percent?" Rocket asked, incredulously.

He then threw back his head and started laughing loudly.

"That's a fake laugh," Peter commented as Gamora sat down.

"It's real!" Rocket snapped.

"It's a fake laugh!" Peter snapped back, pointing at Rocket. "Quick vote."

He pointed at Drax who held up a hand and said, "Fake laugh."

Peter looked at Vanitas who said, "Fake ass laugh."

He pointed at Donald and Goofy who nodded their heads, saying, "Fake." "Very fake."

Peter pointed at Gamora, who admitted, "I'm 80 percent sure it was a fake laugh."

"Groot?" Peter asked, and the tree held up his hand to vote. *** _3_ ***

"Sorry, man," Sora told Rocket. "Fake."

"That is the most real, authentic, hysterical laugh of my entire life because that is not a plan," Rocket snapped at Peter.

"It's barely a concept," Gamora commented.

"You're taking their side?" Peter asked Gamora.

"I'm an optimist," Vanitas admitted. "So's Sora."

"I'm not!" Donald snapped.

"I am Groot," Groot told them.

"So what, it's better than 11%?" Rocket asked. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"We have a better chance than we did at 11%," Goofy pointed out.

"Thank you, Goofy and Groot," Peter said, patting the tree on the arm. "Thank you."

During his next words, Groot raised his shoulder up to move a leaf there closer to his face.

"See?" Peter asked as Groot stuffed the leaf into his mouth. "Groot, Goofy, and Sora, and Vanitas are the only ones who have a clue."

They looked at Groot as he chewed on the leaf in his mouth, before Peter looked down in embarrassment. Rocket scoffed at the sight.

"Guys," Peter said, looking over the group. "Come on. Yondu is gonna be here in two seconds. He expects to hear this big plan of ours. I need your help."

They were quiet for a second.

"I look around at us," Peter continued. "You know what I see? Losers."

Drax and Vanitas looked at Peter offensively, as Gamora, Rocket, and Sora cocked their heads in confusion.

"I mean, like folks who have lost stuff," Peter elaborated. "And we have. Man, we have. All of us. Our homes, our families, normal lives." Sora, Rocket, Gamora, Vanitas, and Drax all gained sad expressions as they realized he was right. Donald and Goofy gained sad expressions when they realized all that their friends had lost. "And, usually, life takes more than it gives. But not today. Today, it's given us something. It has given us a chance."

"To do what?" Drax asked.

"To give a shit," Peter told Drax. "For once." He looked forwards as he finished, "Not run away."

"That is the most inspiring way I have ever heard someone say 'shit'," Vanitas commented.

"I, for one, am not gonna stand by and watch as Ronan wipes out billions of innocent lives," Peter announced.

"But Quill, stopping Ronan, it's impossible," Rocket said, looking up at him. "You're asking us to die."

Peter sighed out.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he admitted, refusing to make eye contact with any of the seven sitting down. He stammered as he looked away and walked a few feet away from them.

After a few seconds, Gamora looked up and announced, "Quill."

Peter turned to look at her.

"I have lived most of my life surrounded by my enemies," Gamora announced. The others watched as she stood up. "I will be grateful to die among my friends."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood up.

"My friends are my power," Sora announced. "And I'm theirs."

"We just gotta work together," Goofy announced.

"Then we can do anything," Donald agreed.

Peter looked at Vanitas.

"I was already in," Vanitas told him. "I mean, I was the only one still standing with you."

Peter walked back to join the circle as Drax stood up.

"You're an honorable man, Quill," Drax announced. "I will fight beside you. And in the end..." He smirked, and Vanitas had to bite his tongue to stop from making a Linkin Park reference because he knew the next part was gonna be important. "I will see my wife and daughter again."

Peter looked gratefully at Drax, then they looked towards Groot to see the living tree standing up.

"I am Groot," he announced.

"Hell, yeah, you are," Donald remarked, still not sure what he was saying.

Rocket looked up at his oldest friend in confusion, then looked around to see that everyone's attention was on him. He sighed out in annoyance.

"Oh, what the hell," Rocket then sighed in resignation. "I don't got that long a lifespan, anyway."

He sighed out as he stood up on the crate and adjusted the outfit he was wearing.

"Now I'm standing," Rocket announced. "Y'all happy?" He crossed his arms. "We're all standing up now. Bunch of jackasses, all standing in a circle."

"Time for us to go to war," Vanitas said with a smile and crossed arms.

"You're joking, right?" Donald asked.

"Donald, Ronan has an army," Goofy reminded him. "There's a pretty good chance this'll be like the Battle of New York."

"This is exactly the Battle of New York," Sora corrected them. "Over half a dozen of us against an army, and the main objective is to take the Infinity Stone out of play. All we're missing is a crazy scientist with a hidden trump card."

Vanitas laughed at that, knowing that with the upcoming battle, there was a good chance he might not ever laugh again, what with the weird nature of his life, and all...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 I freaking love that 😂
> 
> *2 Yeah, that's a Walking Dead reference
> 
> *3 I like including deleted scenes
> 
> Up next is the battle for Xandar. 43 minutes left in the movie, and I'm trying to find the right way to break it up into multiple chapters. Plus, there'll be another moment of a Heartless boss fight...


	7. "Dick" Message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group makes an assault against Ronan over Xandar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said back in the Dark World story, the editing of movies can be a little difficult to take in when making it into a story. Like, for what I had to do for the second time, preparation clips over people doing things

Two moments happened over the course of the next couple of hours. One moment was them preparing their gear, including their weapons and their clothes, for the upcoming battle against Ronan and Maleficent, knowing that they'd be facing problems with both soldiers and Heartless. Peter listened to Cherrybomb over his Walkman as he attached his rockets to his ankles.

The second moment was them explaining to the Ravengers the plan.

"The Stone reacts to anything organic," Gamora told the men. "The bigger the target, the bigger the power surge."

"All Ronan's gotta do is touch the Stone to the planet's surface and zap," Peter told them.

"That's it for the entire world," Sora remarked.

"All plants, animals, Nova Corps," Peter told them.

"Everything will die," Gamora elaborated.

"So Ronan does not make the surface," Peter told them.

During moment one, Rocket prepared his blaster at its fullest intent, while Donald memorized his spells, and checked over how sturdy his shirt was.

"Rocket and Donald will lead a team to blow a hole in the Dark Aster's starboard hull," Peter explained in the second moment, showing a visual representation on a screen of exactly that happening. "Then, our craft and Yondu's will enter."

"Won't there be hundreds of Sakaaran soldiers inside?" Kraglin asked.

"I think of Sakaaran as paper people," Drax remarked.

"Once you've faced hundreds of Chitari and half a dozen Leviathans at once, numbers that big lose their meaning," Vanitas admitted.

Kraglin smirked at them and did a friendly punch to Drax's bicep. Unfortunately, this made the grey skinned man look at him with pure anger. Kraglin backed up in fear.

"Yeah, don't do that," Vanitas told him.

During moment one, Drax regarded the Ravenger outfit he was provided, throwing aside the shirt and sliding his knives into the sheaths on his legs. Vanitas made sure the handle of his machete was sticking out far enough of the sling so it'd be easy to grab, and made sure he had the guns he wanted strapped in the folds of the straps.

During moment two, Gamora kept explaining the layout for the Dark Aster.

"Once they know we're on board, Ronan will isolate himself behind impenetrable security doors on deck," she told them. "Which I can disable by dismantling the power source."

"We'll make it to the flight deck, and I'll use the Hadron Enforcer to kill Ronan," Peter announced.

"Something that could blow a hole into a ship, that's gotta be enough to kill him," Sora said.

"Here's hoping," Donald muttered.

During moment one, Gamora prepared by sliding on the Ravenger outfit they provided her, sliding her extendable knife and sword into sheaths attached to her belt.

In moment two, Gamora continued, "Once Ronan is dead, we will retrieve the Stone. Use these devices to contain it."

A Ravenger had started passing around metal balls, specifically for opening to contain the Stone inside. Groot and Goofy took them and observed them.

"If you touch it, it will kill you," Gamora warned them.

In moment one, Groot extended spiked sticks out of his shoulders in preparation, pulling one out of the side of his face. Goofy twirled his shield in his hand like it was a pizza box, then gripped it tightly in preparation.

In moment two, Peter announced, "I'll contact one of the Nova officers who arrested us. Hopefully, they'll believe we're there to help."

Rocket walked up to join them at the planning center.

"There's one more thing we need to complete the plan," he announced. He pointed at a guy with a cybernetic eye. "That guy's eye."

The man had been idly listening before, but now looked up in surprise at the claim.

"No!" Sora corrected him. "No, we don't."

"No, we don't need that guy's eye," Peter said, looking from Rocket to the man, who was looking at them with some trepidation.

"No, seriously, I need it!" Rocket announced before he burst into laughter. "It's important to me."

During all this, the giant Ravenger ship they flew in had arrived outside Xandar. As they started to disperse out of the room, the automated ship voice announced, " _Ronan's fleet has been spotted, and will arrive in T-minus fifteen minutes._ "

Everyone started to leave, but then Yondu stopped Peter, also stopping Sora and Vanitas.

"Remember, boy," Yondu told Peter. "At the end of all this, I get the Stone. You cross me, we kill you all."

"Good to know..." Sora said with slightly wide eyes.

"Let's get moving," Vanitas told them, helping them move along.

Back with moment one, the others finished preparing, walking out of the rooms they were in and down the hallway, towards the hanger. Yondu climbed into one ship, placing his various dolls next to the console. Donald and Rocket climbed into a ship and prepared to pilot it. Sora, Vanitas, Goofy, Peter, Gamora, Drax, and Groot climbed into the _Milano_ and prepared various things, including the Hadron Enforcer and a large blaster for Drax.

"Let's go get 'em, boys!" Yondu announced over the intercom that connected to the ships as the main one floated into Xandar's atmosphere.

The bottom of the giant Ravenger ship opened, and the many smaller ones, including the _Milano_ , flew out. Dozens of ships flew down over Xandar, in preparation for Ronan's forces. Donald and Rocket flew through the cockpit of the _Milano_ , and the others were in the cockpit of another ship.

"This is a terrible plan," Gamora told them.

"Yet you're joining in on it," Vanitas pointed out.

"Yeah, you're the one who said you wanted to die among friends," Peter added.

Gamora looked at Peter with slight irritation, before she sighed out in resignation.

Meanwhile, Vanitas sensed that the cop Peter contacted, Denarian Dey, had traversed through the hallways of Nova Prime to reach the meeting room, where most of Nova were observing the upcoming Ravenger fleet.

"Nova Prime," Dey greeted as he walked up to the woman in question. "I received a transmission from one of the Ravengers. He says Ronan's in possession of something called an Infinity Stone, and he's heading towards Xandar."

"Good god," Nova Prime said softly with wide eyes.

"It's a trick," Denarian Saal announced, anger on his face. "He's a criminal."

"Did he say why we should believe him?" Nova Prime asked.

"He said his crew just escaped from prison, so he'd have no other reason to risk coming to Xandar to help," Dey explained. "He says he's an... 'a-hole'. But he's not, and I'm quoting him here, '100% a dick'."

Vanitas chuckled as he realized that that was what Peter said in his message.

"Do you believe him?" Nova Prime asked.

"I don't know that I believe anyone is 100% a dick, ma'am," Dey admitted.

"I mean, do you believe that he is here to help?" Nova Prime asked after a second of exasperation.

Dey paused for a second before admitting, "Yeah."

Vanitas was drawn out of his vision as he and everyone else looked up to see the Dark Aster approaching the planet from space.

In a room that included a throne, Ronan sat holding his hammer in preparation. Sakaaran soldiers were around him, while Nebula and Maleficent walked up to him at his throne.

"A fleet approaches," Nebula told Ronan. "They appear to be Ravengers."

"We cannot rule out the possibility that the Keyblade Masters are with them," Maleficent admitted.

In the air, the many Ravenger ships, including two enormous ones with gigantic blasters attached, faced the Dark Aster. Yondu told them to fire, so the gigantic ships with the blasters did exactly that. Enormous bursts of fire flew out towards the Dark Aster, which then exploded against the apparent shield in front of the villainous ship.

"Cover it down," Yondu instructed. "Submerge!"

The many Ravenger ships flew under the large fire still in the air, flying towards the Dark Aster from underneath. Rocket and Donald flew the _Milano_ passed the ship the others were in on its left.

"Rocket, Donald, hurry!" Peter told them.

They piloted the _Milano_ with two other Ravenger ships, right towards the Dark Aster. Inside the ship, Nebula and Maleficent watched as the fire faded from in front of the Dark Aster, revealing to them that the Ravengers were flying underneath them.

"All pilots, dive!" Nebula instructed them. "They're beneath us!"

Rocket and Donald piloted the _Milano_ and the other ships to the right point, and started shooting at the instructed spot.

"If only we had the Gummi Ship," Donald commented. "With the enhancements of rocket launchers, we could probably get this done in a few seconds."

"I'm liking the sounds of these Gummi Ships more and more," Rocket admitted. "We didn't we just stop so we could pick it up?"

"I kinda forgot where we parked it on the world," Donald admitted.

"I lost a ship that way," Rocket admitted as they kept firing at the point on the ship.

Hundreds of the smaller Kree Necroships flew out of the Dark Aster, all around the many Ravenger ships. While the Nova Corps evacuated the city below, the Ravengers fought off the Necroships. Peter exclaimed as they maneuvered their ship around the enemy ships.

The Dark Aster then powered the thrusters forwards, moving it closer to the planet. This made things a little difficult for the group firing at the back. Donald and Rocket exclaimed as they turned the _Milano_ so they were still firing at the same spot.

"Come on!" Kraglin exclaimed.

After a few more seconds of firing, a large explosion burst from the spot, a large enough hole now being clear and open.

"Quill! Yondu! Now!" Rocket announced.

They piloted their ship and Yondu's ship towards the Dark Aster, around the many Necroships. Once the ships realized where they were going, they started following the two, so Yondu did some maneuvers to quickly get behind them and blast them to pieces.

"Wow, he's pretty good," Vanitas commented.

"I see why he became the leader of the Ravengers," Sora remarked.

They kept flying and dodging the Necroships, until after a little while, a large piece of a burst ship flew into Yondu's ship, damaging it a bit.

" _Aw, hell!_ " Yondu exclaimed over the intercom as his ship started spinning while falling to the ground. " _I'm going down, Quill! No more games with me, boy! I'll see you, at the end of this!_ "

In the cockpit of their ship, Sora, Vanitas, Peter, Gamora, Drax, Goofy, and Groot exclaimed as they did their best to pilot the ship through the hundreds of Necroships. Things kept exploding all around them, and pieces of the ships started smacking into their ship.

"There are too many of them, Rocket!" Gamora exclaimed over the intercom. "We'll never make it up there!"

"Oh, now I wish I had my will finalized!" Goofy commented in slight fear.

Then, their fears vanished as new blasts started coming out of nowhere and blowing the Necroships to pieces. They all watched in amazement as the ships kept exploding. Pretty soon, the familiar star shaped Nova Ships flew into their views, shooting down the Necroships with them.

" _Peter Quill,_ " Saal announced over the intercom. " _This is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised against trusting you here._ "

"They got my 'dick' message!" Peter announced to everyone, smiles on their faces.

" _Prove me wrong,_ " Saal instructed them.

Peter engaged the thrusters more, and they flew up to the Dark Aster even faster. They flew into the hole in the back of the ship Rocket and Donald made for them, which bumped and crashed into walls and the floor as it roughly slid across the interior of the ship.

"Yes!" Drax called out with a laugh.

"Best roller coaster ever!" Vanitas exclaimed with a laugh of his own.

The two of them kept laughing, making Peter, Sora, and Gamora look at them with surprised looks. As the ship slid roughly into the ship, Sakaaran fired their blasters at it, which didn't have much of an effect. Peter and Sora turned the ship, and Gamora fired the ships own blasters at the aliens, taking them out. The ship kept sliding along the ground, firing at the Sakaarans.

The ship reached the end of a corridor, pointing down another one, still firing the blasters at the Sakaarans, taking them out, even as they tried running. Once all the soldiers were down or gone, they stopped the blasters, leaving things now calm.

"Yes!" Drax cheered, pumping his fists in excitement.

"That was awesome!" Vanitas exclaimed as he and Drax laughed.

"It kind of was," Sora admitted, with a slight smile.

Everyone else breathed in and out over getting over what they just went through. Gamora and Peter looked at each other.

"We're just like Kevin Bacon," Gamora commented.

"Especially when he was in Tremors," Vanitas informed them.

In the main room, Ronan looked around with his Sakaaran soldiers with Nebula and Maleficent. The Nova and Ravenger Ships were still fighting against the Necroships, while Nebula and Maleficent observed the inner parts of the ship.

"The starboard kern has been breached!" Nebula announced, walking towards the stairs, where Ronan was looking down at her from the top. "We have been boarded."

"Continue our approach," Ronan told her.

"But the Nova Corps have engaged," Nebula told him.

"None of that will matter when we reach the surface," Ronan told her.

"You must remember not to let your newfound power overcloud the truth around you," Maleficent told him. "If you try to do more than you can, then you will fall, hard. I lost two of my assistants like that."

Ronan shot her a dark look, then moved back to his throne.

"With me, Maleficent," Nebula told the fairy before looking towards the Sakaaran soldiers. "Seal security doors! Now!"

Nebula snapped at the soldiers in their native language as Ronan sat in his throne.

"Get out of our way!" Nebula snapped as she and Maleficent walked out of the doorway, which slid shut behind them.

"I am starting to think I should cut my ties with Ronan and Thanos," Maleficent admitted to Nebula as they walked down the hallway.

"I don't blame you," Nebula admitted. "I am starting to have similar thoughts. Ronan is too crazy, and my father... I want to destroy him."

"If I was powerful enough, I would help you with that," Maleficent admitted. "But, I think the only ones that would be strong enough would be the Keyblade Masters."

"No offense, but I wouldn't trust those children to take out Thanos by themselves," Nebula admitted.

"Oh, you would be surprised," Maleficent told her. *** _1_ ***

Back outside, Rocket and Donald winced in the _Milano_ as they watched the Dark Aster slowly move closer and closer to the ground. Then, all of a sudden, they were amazed to watch all the Nova ships fly up and in front of the Dark Aster. The thousands of ships formed a patten and set up a barricade, which caught the Dark Aster. The Nova Ships formed themselves into a gigantic shield, which wrapped around the entire front of the Dark Aster, keeping it from going any more forward.

"Whoa..." Rocket said in amazement.

"Holy shit!" Donald exclaimed, equally amazed.

Back in the Dark Aster, the group slid open the side door for their ship, and walked out into the darkened corridors of the ship. Gamora led the way with her sword ready to extend, with Peter and Sora behind her. Peter carried his blasters in his hands, and the Hadron Enforcer on his back, while Sora carried his Keyblade in his hand. Drax and Vanitas followed, blaster in Drax's hands, and a Sadu ASALT 96 SMG in one hand (he felt like diversifying). Groot and Goofy took up the rear, with Goofy holding up his shield in preparation of defense.

"I can barely see," Drax admitted.

Groot held up his left arm, and to everyone's amazements, small glowing petals started flying out by the dozen, lighting up the room around them. They stared up in awe as they watched more and more petals flew out, into the air.

"Whoa..." Vanitas said in amazement.

"When did you learn to do that?" Drax asked.

"Pretty sure the answer is 'I am Groot'," Peter commented.

"You just said 'A donkey once pissed in my mouth'," Vanitas told him.

"Ew," Sora said, scrunching his face.

"How do you understand that language?" Peter asked.

"I don't know," Vanitas admitted. "I feel like even before I had amnesia, it would have been difficult to figure out."

"Sure sounds like it would be," Goofy admitted.

"Hey," Gamora said, getting their attentions. She looked down the hallway in front of them. "The flight deck is 300 meters this way."

After a few seconds of them walking through the now lit corridors, Drax admitted, "I want you all to know that I am grateful for your acceptance after by blunders."

"Hey, we all make dumb mistakes," Sora admitted. "I once tried to go with my friends to travel to other worlds on a raft. We probably wouldn't have made it very far."

"I almost constantly get hit in the head by big, heavy things," Goofy admitted. "It's a good thing I've got a pretty sturdy skull."

"When I first met these three, I lied to them about being a liaison for the 'Order of Light', and I needed to go with them to help them succeed on their journey," Vanitas admitted. "I came around to them, though."

"Those are nice stories," Drax admitted. "It is pleasing to once again have... friends. You, Quill, are my friend."

"Thanks," Peter told him.

"You V, a crazy pyrotechnic, are my friend," Drax said.

"Cool," Vanitas said.

"The young clone of yours, he is my friend," Drax said, looking at Sora.

"Not a clone, but, thanks," Sora said with uncertianty.

"This dumb tree and dog, they are my friends," Drax said, looking at Groot and Goofy.

Groot and Goofy nodded their heads in confirmation at him, with slight smiles.

"And this green whore, she, too..." Drax started to say.

"Oh, you must stop!" Gamora snapped, turning to look at the man in anger as she stopped them in place.

Their attentions were drawn to the floor that was slanted up in front of them, from the sound of a woman grunting. They watched as Nebula fell down from nowhere and landed at the top part of the floor, looking down at them.

"Gamora, look at what you have done," Nebula reprimanded her adopted sister. "You have always been weak. You stupid, traitorous..."

She was cut off by a large blast hitting her in the chest and blowing up, throwing her down the hallway behind her pretty far and out of sight. The others looked at Drax in surprise as he slowly lowered the blaster again.

"Nobody talks to my friends like that," he softly announced.

"Maybe give this guy a chance," Vanitas admitted with a slight smile. "Looks like he just doesn't understand talking that much."

After a second, Gamora looked at them and instructed, "Head to the flight deck. I'll shut down the power to the security doors."

"Good luck," Sora told her. "And watch out for Maleficent."

Gamora nodded a head as they went up the slanted floor and parted ways. Gamora went down the hallway in front of them, and the men went down the hallway to the left, each of them ready to accomplish their individual tasks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 I figured after they defeated her twice, Maleficent would have a bit of silent respect for the gang, even though she still wants to destroy them and take over all the worlds. Like Thanos with Tony in Infinity War
> 
> Part 1, done


	8. Metaphor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group faces off against Ronan and Maleficent's forces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter one, but I wanted the number of chapters to be over 10, so... Kinda had to

During their trek through the corridors, Vanitas winced as he grabbed his head, feeling an oncoming vision. He saw Yondu on the ground, outside of his wrecked ship. The Ravenger leader picked up one of his fallen trinkets, and spilled it into his pocket when he saw it was okay.

"Yondu Udonta," a Sakaaran soldier announced.

Yondu turned to see dozens of Sakaarans pointing their guns at him, some Sakaarans holding swords, multiple Heartless resembling Sakaaran soldiers around, and even a Necrocraft hovering down onto the grassy field for the pilot to join its allies. *** _1_ ***

"Order your men to turn on the Nova Corps," the closest Sakaaran soldier ordered.

Yondu raised his hands in surrender, before he lowered them to open his coat further and reveal the pouches on his belt, including the holster for the arrow. He whistled low, and the arrow flew out, much to the astonishment of the Sakaarans.

"Enough nonsense, Ravenger!" the original soldier snapped, raising his blaster again as the arrow twirled in the air. "Time to die..."

He was cut off by Yondu whistling, and the arrow flew right through his chest, killing him instantly. Yondu kept whistling, and at an incredibly fast speed, the arrow flew through the Sakaarans and the Heartless alike, faster than could be registered. It even flew through the Necrocraft and the pilot, taking him out, too. Once the arrow flew through the last Sakaaran, Yondu stopped whistling and caught it in his hand. All the soldiers fell to the ground dead, the Heartless all exploded, releasing their hearts, and the ship crashed to the ground and blew up.

"Jeez," Vanitas said in amazement as the vision ended. He looked at Peter. "Now _I_ know why Yondu was the leader of the Ravengers."

Elsewhere on the ship, Gamora ran down her hallway, but stopped when she saw Nebula, her robotic enhancements cracking themselves back into place as she stood up and grasped her sword handle. Gamora held up her hands to try to make peace as her sister finished repairing herself. At the same time, a dark corridor opened behind her on the right, and Maleficent walked through to look at the two sisters in contemplation.

"Nebula, please," Gamora insisted.

Nebula instead swung at Gamora, which she dodged by backing up. Gamora then grabbed Nebula's arm and twisted it around before elbowing her sister away. Maleficent swung her staff at Gamora, but she caught it and redirected the staff so it instead hit the witch in the face. Gamora ran towards one of the power cells for the security doors. She opened it and lowered it as Nebula and Maleficent recovered, Nebula retracting her swords.

Before Gamora could break the power cell, Nebula electrocuted her with part of her sword. Gamora then backed up as her sister swung her swords at her, dodging all the slashes. Maleficent then blasted Gamora with green fire, knocking her back. The two villainesses walked towards Gamora, Nebula twirling a sword in preparation.

In the flight deck, Ronan had just about enough of the assault not doing that much damage so far.

"Enough of this," he announced over his intercom. "Necrocraft pilots, enact immolation initiative."

So, the pilots did exactly that. They stopped flying towards the many Xandarian ships around the Dark Aster, and started flying directly down to the city.

"They're dive-bombing the city!" a Starblaster pilot announced over the intercom. "Denarian Saal, should we break formation?"

"No!" Saal snapped. "Hold your positions."

"Man, I wish we knew where your ship was," Rocket commented to Donald.

"Same here," Donald agreed as they started flying over the city to try to help. "We'd be able to cover more ground."

The Necrocrafts started crashing into the city, blowing up wherever they crashed into. After more than a few seconds of travel to reach the city, Donald and Rocket made it and blasted a Necrocraft with the _Milano's_ guns before it could blow up a bridge full of people running for their lives.

"Keep Ronan up there, Saal," Rocket instructed over the intercom. "We'll take care of the people down here."

"We'll make sure they get out safely," Donald added.

"I can't believe I'm taking orders from a hamster and a turkey," Saal muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, back on the Dark Aster, Peter, Sora, Vanitas, Drax, Goofy, and Groot turned a corner and found themselves in a large room, face to face with Korath, a bunch of Sakaaran soldiers, and many Heartless.

"Star-Lord," Korath growled, seeing Peter.

"Finally," Peter smirked.

Korath looked at the others, and his eyes widened at the sight of Vanitas. Vanitas, in turn, had a small vision, where he saw himself dressed in black, fighting the man with his Keyblade, along with a blonde woman in red, blue, and gold armor. The vision ended, and he smirked.

"You!" Korath snapped.

"Korath!" Vanitas said, like he was greeting an old friend. "Long time, no fight. I missed you, man. Did you miss me?" *** _2_ ***

Korath grabbed Peter with one hand and Vanitas with the other, yelling out as he threw them to the ground.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Vanitas quipped before aiming his ASALT 96 at Soldiers and Shadows and firing.

Drax slashed his knife at a Sakaaran and kicked another one away as Groot and Goofy charged at the soldiers and Heartless. Peter activated his mask as Korath grabbed him by the legs and threw him through the air into a large mechanism. Sora swung his Keyblade at Korath, who ducked, grabbed Sora, and threw him into Vanitas, knocking the two into the ground (again, for Vanitas).

Drax, meanwhile, managed to take out two Sakaaran soldiers with his knife almost simultaneously, while Goofy knocked one aside with his shield, and Groot kicked a Heartless resembling a Sakaaran to the ground.

"You thief!" Korath growled, looking down at Peter on the ground.

Drax then yelled out, getting the man's attention. He threw each of his knives, but Korath blocked both, making one fly into a Shadow, and the other fly into a Sakaaran. Drax yelled out as he charged at Korath, while Sora and Groot knocked aside more Sakaaran soldiers and took out more Heartless. Drax and Korath ended up in combat with each other, with Korath throwing Drax to the ground and kicking him in the face.

"You will never make it to Ronan," Korath snapped at them.

Vanitas fired his SMG at Korath, but most of the bullets deflected off of the man's armor before it clicked empty. The ravenette yelled out as he charged at Korath, ready to deal some damage.

Outside, above the ground of Xandar, Rocket and Donald piloted the _Milano_ so they were above the water of the river.

"Everybody shoot them before they hit the ground," Rocket instructed.

"Good target practice, and the only ones dying are them," Donald elaborated.

They tilted the _Milano_ so it was facing up, and fired at the falling Necrocrafts to emphasize their points. All the Ravenger ships floated down, making a line between them. They all enthusiastically joined Rocket and Goofy in firing their guns up at the Necrocrafts, blowing them to pieces.

"This is awesome!" Donald exclaimed, excited.

Back on the Dark Aster, everyone was still in combat. On one side of the ship, Gamora was intercepting Nebula's sword swings with her own sword, dodging the one electric blade, and slashing through the spells Maleficent fired at her with her staff.

On the other side of the ship, Groot picked up one Heartless resembling a Sakaaran and tossed it aside. He then choke-slammed another Sakaaran to the ground before kicking it, knocking it into another one. Vanitas and Drax were in combat with Korath, with Drax ducking under a punch of Korath's. Vanitas kicked Korath in the stomach before the man grabbed Drax by the head, which got knocked into the wall next to them by their enemy.

Peter then flew up into the air and kicked two Soldiers before falling to the ground and flying along on it, blasting Heartless and Sakaaran alike with lethal blasts from his guns. Sora kept doing various combo attacks and spells to both Sakaaran and Heartless, while Goofy spun around in a circle attacking with his shield. Peter then stood up and was in close combat with a Sakaaran before blasting it into the wall next to them. He then nonchalantly blasted at a Soldier on his other side like it was nothing.

Drax then knocked Korath into a wall, before the man with robotic enhancements fell to the ground. Drax then picked him back up and forced him against the same wall. The others watched as Drax grabbed the cybernetic enhancement on Korath's head, making him wince in pain.

"Finger to the throat means death," Drax softly told Korath.

He then pulled the cybernetic piece out of Korath's head, making him wince as he short circuited and fell down to the ground, dead. Sora, Peter, Vanitas, and Goofy walked up to the grey skinned man as he looked from Korath to them.

"Metaphor," Drax told them.

"Yeah, sorta," Peter admitted. They looked past him to the pathway they had to go through. "Oh, no."

Groot, Sora, and Peter walked past them as more Sakaarans and Heartless filled the hallway in front of them. Vanitas reloaded his ASALT 96 in preparation, but then Groot yelled out as he extended his right arm through five of the Sakaarans. The others watched with wide eyes as Groot lifted them up, then swung them around, knocking aside all the Sakaarans and Heartless. He kept swinging them into various parts of the wall even after all the other ones were on the ground.

"Whoa..." Sora said in surprise.

Peter and Drax looked at each other with Peter still surprised, and Drax smiling, before they went back to watching Groot. After a few more seconds of knocking aside the Sakaarans, he simply deposited them on the ground, looked over his shoulder at the others, and smiled.

"A-hyuck," Goofy said, hiding his new nervousness. "Good goin', Groot!"

"Now I see why Rocket always has him around," Vanitas commented.

"I'm a little worried that that isn't all Rocket," Sora admitted.

They moved on through the hallway in front of them, ready for whatever was next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Didn't know until this part of the movie when Ronan said it that they're called Necrocrafts, not Necroships. Same difference, though
> 
> *2 Yeah, Sora and the others are starting to rub off on Vanitas, which even they will start to point out eventually
> 
> Part 2, finished


	9. We Are Groot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finally reaches Ronan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should there be a Major Character Death tag since we all know what happens to Groot?

Unfortunately, things were about to take a dark turn in the fight.

"Xandar!" Ronan announced in the flight deck as he walked to the window in front of him, hammer in hand. "You stand accused. Your wretched peace treaty will not save you now. It is the tinder on which you burn."

He reached the ledge in front of the giant window, and pointed his hammer at it. Purple energy from the Power Stone shot out, which exploded on impact. The force of it caused a massive chain reaction, blowing up the ships and killing the pilots of many the ships surrounding the Dark Aster. One explosion blew out the wall of the room where Gamora was fighting Nebula and Maleficent, interrupting their fight briefly.

At the same time, the Necrocrafts falling to the ground started to get smart and aimed for the Ravenger ships. One right next to Donald and Rocket blew up, sending shrapnel that cracked their window.

With the Xandarian ships around the Dark Aster blowing up, the shield around it weakened. This meant the ship was able to continue its flight forwards and downwards, which meant it was now starting to crush Denarian Saal's ship.

The officer exclaimed as the enemy ship crushed the front of his ship, calling out, "Rocket! Donald!"

"Hold on, Saal, just..." Rocket started to instruct.

He was cut off as the ship exploded, killing Saal. Rocket and Donald watched in wide eyed terror as the Dark Aster burst through the shield, causing another chain reaction that started blowing up nearly all of the remaining ships that surrounded it.

"Holy shit..." Donald muttered, horrified as he thought about how Ronan thought he was actually doing a good thing by slaughtering all those people.

"Quill, Sora, you guys gotta hurry," Rocket announced over the intercom.

Back on the Dark Aster, the others were fighting through more Heartless and Sakaarans, with Peter blasting at approaching enemies, Sora knocking them aside with his Keyblade, Goofy doing the same with his shield, and Vanitas slashing through them with his machete and shooting them with his SMG.

" _The city's been evacuated, but we're getting our asses kicked down here,_ " Rocket elaborated as they kept fighting through the enemies and walked up to the still closed door in front of them.

"Gamora hasn't opened the door!" Peter exclaimed.

"She's probably a little preoccupied with her sister and Maleficent," Vanitas commented, pulling his machete out of the torso of a dead Sakaaran.

"That fairy is starting to get on my nerves," Drax commented.

"Join the club," Sora said, attacking the Shadows around him with Fire.

Gamora was indeed still in combat with the two. She managed to knock aside Maleficent, but Nebula had combined her weapons into a staff with electrical powers on one side. Nebula attacked with her staff, and Gamora blocked the strikes with strikes from her sword. Gamora kicked her sister in the face before Nebula knocked her sword out of the giant hole in the wall they had gotten closer to.

Nebula then jabbed the staff into Gamora and started electrocuting her. Both sisters yelled out as the electricity surging made Gamora's skeleton show briefly, before Gamora pulled the staff out of Nebula's hands and kicked her sister back. Nebula flew back through the hole and slid down the charred parts of the ship before her cybernetic left hand was lodged into a metal piece. She dangled from the ship by her left hand as she looked down, observing the gigantic battle over the city below her.

"Nebula!" Gamora called out, getting Nebula's attention. Gamora was kneeling down on the part of the destroyed wall and was reaching out for her adoptive sister. "Sister, help us fight Ronan. You know he's crazy."

"I know you're both crazy," Nebula countered, before slamming her fist into her robotic wrist.

"No!" Gamora called out as Nebula's hand broke off of her wrist.

Nebula plummeted for a bit before she landed on the windshield of a Ravenger ship. She burst through the windshield and tossed the pilot out, stealing the ship and flying it away from the battle.

Gamora stood up straight and turned to see Maleficent standing between her and the power cell for the security door.

"Back aside, witch," Gamora snapped at her.

"Oh, gladly," Maleficent said as a dark corridor appeared behind her. "Ronan is a lost cause. The darkness is starting to overtake him as we speak. I know well enough that when there is a strategic opportunity to retreat, I should take it."

"You mean you're running away," Gamora told her.

"No, I'm not," Maleficent said, annoyance on her face. "I am making a strategic exit."

"That's what everyone says when they're running away," Gamora informed her.

"Fine, I am running away," Maleficent sighed out as she turned to the dark corridor. "But make no mistake. Some how, some way, all worlds will be under my rule, and neither you nor Thanos will not be able to stop me."

Maleficent walked through the dark corridor, which disappeared behind her.

The guys prepared the Hadron Enforcer to fire, while Groot and Vanitas slammed on the security door in a futile effort. Below them, Gamora used a blaster to burst open the power cell, then she ripped apart the wires.

The security door opened, revealing them to three Sakaaran soldiers. They were about to engage when the floor on their other side burst apart, and Gamora jumped through. Gamora shot one soldier with her blaster, Vanitas shot another with his gun, and Drax slammed his fist into the third one's back and knocked him to the ground.

All seven of them then gathered in front of the throne and looked down in front of them. Far in front of them, Ronan turned back to face them, and narrowed his eyes right at the Hadron Enforcer. Peter powered the gun up and fired out the projectile. Time seemingly slowed down as the projectile flew towards Ronan's chest and exploded in a massive, blue and white blast. They all winced as the blast went on for quite a while, covering the entire area in smoke that was hard to see through.

"Now I'm glad we didn't use that on the ship," Sora commented as Peter retracted his mask.

"Agree," Vanitas agreed.

"Yup," Goofy agreed with a slight nod of the head and wide eyes.

"You did it!" Drax congratulated Peter as they watched where Ronan had stood.

Peter smiled with them, which then faded after a second when the smoke started to clear. Once it cleared enough, they were able to see Ronan standing up, hammer in hand and nothing by a burn mark in the center of his armor.

"Looks like the Stone took the brunt of the blast," Vanitas assessed, slightly nervous.

The seven of them looked at each other in surprised nervousness as they looked up at Ronan. The Kree pointed his hammer at them, then turned it, sending out a large shockwave that knocked them all back. Drax quickly recovered and charged at Ronan, yelling out in anger. He reached Ronan, but the Kree once again grabbed the man by the neck and held him up, choking him.

"I was mistaken," Ronan admitted to Drax. "I do remember your family. Their screams were pitiful. I..."

Vanitas couldn't tell if Ronan was being truthful, or if he was just trying to piss off Drax before killing him. *** _1_ ***

Whatever the case, Ronan didn't get to finish, because the sound of a ship flying garnered his attention. He looked to his right at the window to see the _Milano_ flying directly at them. Inside the ship, Rocket and Donald yelled out as they crashed it through the front window of the Dark Aster, taking out the pilots and destroying much of the entire room. Peter tackled Groot to the ground to protect him, and Vanitas did the same thing to Sora and Goofy.

Once that ended, there was a giant explosion outside the ship, followed by a few more. The Dark Aster then started falling directly down to the planet.

In the completely ruined flight deck, Groot and Goofy stood and looked around at the wreckage around them, while Gamora and Vanitas helped up Drax, and Peter and Sora got the unconscious forms of Rocket and Donald out of the ruined _Milano_. The ship rumbled as Gamora and Vanitas dragged Drax over to the two taller members of the group. Peter and Sora carried the still unconscious Rocket and Donald in their arms as they walked over to join the others.

"We're... uh, kinda fucked," Vanitas said as they all kneeled down to the ground.

He was right. More of the room around them was falling apart, with lots of the ceramic ceiling falling down and crashing into the floor nearby.

As the Dark Aster continued plummeting towards the ground, and more things blew up around them, Groot knew what he had to do. He held out his arms and started extending out vines and twigs. Peter, Gamora, Vanitas, Sora, and Goofy watched in amazement as the vines and twigs continued surrounding them, starting to create an orb around all of them. Rocket and Donald soon woke up and stared at the phenomenon in amazement with the others.

Within moments, they were wrapped completely into a ball of twigs and vines, with the glowing leaves lighting things up so they could see each other, and some vines acting as seat belts and holding them down against the walls.

Rocket stood straight up and looked at Groot's face, which was still visible despite all the vines around him.

"No, Groot!" Rocket insisted. "You can't. You'll die." He whined, "Why are you doing this? Why?"

A vine went up to Rocket's cheek and rubbed it. When Groot then spoke, they didn't even need Rocket or Vanitas to translate to know what he meant.

"We... are... Groot..." he croaked out. *** _2_ ***

Everyone's hearts melted at that. Even Vanitas's, since that was a moment where he could feel sadness.

Within seconds, the Dark Aster then crashed against a tall metal building on the ground, blowing both it and the building up in a gigantic explosion. The severity of the explosion resulted in lots of fire, lots of smoke, and everyone to be knocked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 I'm wondering that to this day
> 
> *2 Man, that part always gets me
> 
> Ah, one more of the battle against Ronan, then the ending. Of course, just 'cause they're gonna beat Ronan the way they do in the movie doesn't mean the battle will be over. You'll see...
> 
> Part 3, complete


	10. Guardians of the Galaxy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group faces off against Ronan one last time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, did that count for Major Character Death tag?

When everyone started to come to, the first thing they noticed was the sound of a stereo playing music from Peter's tape. Looking around, Vanitas and Sora saw that they were in a field with its grass now burned out from the explosion. There were pieces of twig forming a circle around the other members of the group that were coming to, along with pieces of the now destroyed _Milano_. Somehow, the wall attached tape player that was on Peter's ship was still intact, and was playing the music they were hearing.

The eight members of the group slowly started pushing themselves up, ash on their faces and various bruises all around. Rocket immediately went to where the sticks were and picked one up, looking down at it, sadly.

"I called him an idiot," he muttered to himself.

As the group continued to push themselves up in recovery, Xandarians all around started walking towards the wreckage in curiosity. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy shared looks, and were about to move towards Rocket to reassure him when they stopped in their tracks. Looking past Rocket to the broken bits of the Dark Aster, they saw Ronan walk out of the smoke, Power Stone glowing on his hammer, and somehow perfectly unharmed from what just happened.

The crowd that had gathered backed up in fear, while Rocket turned to face Ronan with anger in his eyes.

"You killed Groot!" he roared.

Rocket yelled out as he charged at Ronan, followed by Donald, who had re-summoned his staff. But once they got close enough, Ronan just nonchalantly knocked them aside with energy from his hammer. The two of them went flying, and they ended up landing next to various pieces of broken technology.

"Behold!" Ronan announced, gesturing to them all as Peter, Gamora, Sora, and Vanitas looked up at him. "Your guardians of the galaxy. What fruit have they wrought?"

During his next words, Ronan didn't notice that Donald and Rocket figured out they had landed next to the broken Hadron Enforcer. Rocket got to work fixing it, instructing Donald to grab him pieces.

"Only that my father and his father shall finally know vengeance," Ronan continued with a hint of eagerness in his voice. Rocket and Donald shared a look with Drax, who was next to them, before he and Gamora looked directly at Ronan. "People of Xandar, the time has come to rejoice and renounce your paltry gods!"

"Your salvation is at hand," Ronan continued as he held up his hammer with the Stone.

Ronan yelled out in his native Kree language triumphantly, not noticing Peter, Sora, Vanitas, Gamora, and Goofy standing up.

" _Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier_ ," Peter started singing along with his tape player, confusing Ronan into stopping. Everyone else was confused as Peter continued. " _Ooh, child, things are gonna get brighter_." He pointed at Ronan. "Listen to these words."

"Trust me, you're gonna wanna listen," Vanitas commented with a slight smile, while Gamora and Sora were still confused.

" _Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier_ ," Peter continued, as he started dancing in place while everyone kept looking at him. " _Ooh, child, things are gonna get brighter_. Now bring it down hard!" He gestured throwing down with his right hand.

He kept singing along to the music, and dancing a lot more obviously.

"What are you doing?" Ronan asked, confused.

"Dance off, bro," Peter said, still dancing with a smile on his face. "Me and you."

"Dance off for the galaxy!" Vanitas exclaimed with a laugh, him and Sora holding each other up.

Peter kept dancing, while the player kept playing music, and Ronan grew more confused by the second.

Peter then gestured to Gamora, calling out, "Gamora."

The green skinned woman shook her head, as Ronan looked at her, irritation growing on his face.

"Subtle," Peter admitted, raising his arm. "Take it back. V? Sora?" He pointed his arm at them.

"I don't think I can do anything good right now," Vanitas admitted, pointing down at a large piece of shrapnel that was going through his leg.

"Injury, noted," Peter said, raising his arm again before he continued dancing.

"What are you doing?" Ronan asked Peter with irritation in his voice.

"I'm distracting you, you big turd blossom," Peter told Ronan with a smile.

"Nice job letting him, genius," Sora sarcastically told Ronan with a smile.

The sound of a gun preparing to fire garnered his attention. Ronan looked to his right to see Drax standing up, pointing the Hadron Enforcer right at his hammer. Rocket stood next to him with wires in his hands, and Donald and Goofy stood behind him, holding up their arms in preparation to block the blast. Rocket connected the wires, and a projectile shot out that blew up the heavy part of the hammer in a purple explosion, releasing the Power Stone.

Without thinking, Peter lunged at the Power Stone and reached for it at the same time as Ronan. Despite the Kree being closer to it initially, Peter managed to reach for it faster.

"No!" Gamora called out.

"Quill!" Vanitas yelled at the same time Sora exclaimed, "Peter!"

Peter caught the Stone in his right hand, causing a massive wave that burst out and knocked Ronan back as Peter fell to the ground. Purple energy then formed a giant circle around them, as more gathered in Peter's hand. He yelled out as the energy of the Stone started surging through him.

Energy continued to gather into a halo around all of them that grew up into the air, while Peter stood up, moved the Stone into his left hand, and continued yelling as the energy surged through him. The others were barely able to see through the energy flying around them, but they were able to make out Peter, who was still yelling out as the energy of the Stone kept him planted in place as it surged across his body, and Ronan, who laughed at what was happening to the human in front of him.

Gamora managed to push through the energy and was getting closer to Peter.

"Peter!" she called out, holding out a hand. "Take my hand!"

Despite the power of the Stone starting to tear him apart, Peter looked to his left at Gamora, having a flashback to when his mom said those same exact words to him.

"Take my hand!" Gamora called out again, breaking him out of his flashback.

Peter reached out with his free hand and took Gamora's. She yelled out as the energy from the Stone started tearing her apart as well.

"Oh, fuck it," Vanitas muttered as he and Sora reached them. "All the way!"

With an arm around Sora, the two prepared themselves as Vanitas grabbed Gamora's wrist, transferring the energy to them as well.

"Oh, I regret this!" Vanitas exclaimed as the energy started tearing through them, as well.

"Oh, son of a..." Sora exclaimed before they yelled out.

On Peter's other side, Drax fought through the energy of the Stone around them, and placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. He yelled out as the energy from the Stone went through him, tearing through him, as well. Goofy pushed through the energy as well and placed a hand on Drax's back, making him call out as the energy surged through him, as well.

The remaining members, Donald and Rocket, reached the others, and Rocket reached up to grab one of Drax's fingers, yelling out as the energy surged through him, as well. Donald sighed out and grabbed Goofy's wrist, yelling out as the energy surged through him, too.

The energy kept surging through the eight, tearing them apart slightly, everyone stopped calling out. Everyone still holding onto each other, they faced Ronan with determination as the energy continued surging, but not in a manner that hurt them, even with the halo still going all around them.

"You're mortal!" Ronan exclaimed at Peter. "How?"

"You said it yourself, bitch," Peter told him, eyes purple from the power of the Stone. "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy."

Ronan growled out as he lifted up the pole from his hammer, ready to use it like a spear. Peter then opened up his hand, holding the Power Stone. The energy shot out and flew into Ronan, making him gasp as it lifted him up. After a few seconds of the energy surging through Ronan, he exploded in a purple explosion, killing him. Gamora then pulled one of the orbs they had earlier and closed it around the Power Stone, containing the power inside.

Everyone breathed out and panted as the halo disappeared from around them. They all let go with each other and looked at themselves.

"Let's never do that again," Vanitas quipped, breathless.

"Agreed," Sora commented.

Peter and Gamora looked at each other for a second, before a dark circle appeared in the ground where Ronan had stood. Everyone looked at it, confused.

"What the hell is that?" Rocket asked.

Vanitas' eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

"I've seen this before," he announced, grateful that the large piece of shrapnel was burned to pieces during that thing with the Stone. "This isn't good..."

After a few seconds of the circle growing larger and larger, a pure black arm rose out and slammed into the ground, surprising them. Another arm shot out and slammed into the ground again. The arms pulled up, dragging out a body. The pure black body climbed out and faced the group. *** _1_ ***

The black them faded, revealing a fifteen foot tall monster wearing similar armor to Ronan's. A monster head with the usual Heartless yellow eyes was under the mask, a Heartless sigil in the middle of the chest, and a hammer appeared in its hand. The Heartless lifted the hammer in both its hands, and raised it up.

"Move!" Sora exclaimed.

They all started running away from the Heartless with the people, just as the hammer slammed into the ground. Once they got back a few feet, they looked up to see the Heartless pick up the Orb in its left hand.

"Oh, shit!" Peter exclaimed, realizing he had dropped the Orb.

The Heartless smashed the Orb in its hand, then slammed the Stone into the hammer, similar to how Ronan had done when he was still a Kree.

"I had no idea aliens could become Heartless," Donald commented.

"Well, you apparently could, so why not him?" Sora commented.

Goofy pulled out a Megalixer and threw it up, restoring all of their health and magic expenses, making them feel a lot better.

"Good," Vanitas said, pulling his ASALT 96 back out and cocking it in preparation, looking up at the Heartless. "Now we can take care of this asshole."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons and stood in their battle stances. After a second, Peter slipped out his blasters, Drax picked up his knives from off the ground, Gamora, picked up her sword from off the ground, and Rocket picked up his blaster.

"Let's take this prick out!" Rocket growled out, anger in his voice.

"With pleasure," Sora commented.

The Heartless swung its hammer, missing Sora and Donald. Donald then started casting Thunder and Blizzard, Peter and Rocket shot their guns, Sora jumped up and attacked with aerial combos. Vanitas fired his SMG at the head and torso of the Heartless. Goofy charged in and rammed his shield into the Heartless, making it roar out. Gamora charged in with Drax and the two slashed their blades at the Heartless, slowly hacking away at it. They all then had to back up as the Heartless swung its hammer around them.

The Heartless then lifted up its hammer, and purple energy surged around the heavy part. It then roared out as it swung the hammer above the ground and towards them, releasing the energy and knocking back Sora, Peter, Donald, and Gamora. It then raised the hammer up, prepared to end this all and pressing the Stone into the ground.

"Drax, I require your assistance," Vanitas admitted.

The two ran at the Heartless as it tried slamming the hammer into the ground. The two strongest members of the group managed to catch the hammer before it could hit the ground, and held it up. This made things difficult since it was releasing the energy from the stone into them.

"Someone do something!" Vanitas exclaimed. "This thing is heavy!"

"And its dispersing the energy of the Stone into us!" Drax added.

"Yeah, that, too!" Vanitas added.

Rocket extended his blaster out to its fullest extend, and Donald ran up to join him. He waved his staff, transferring some Thunder into the electrical blast Rocket had planned. Rocket lifted his blaster up as electricity surged around it as it collected the magic from Donald.

"Hell, yeah," Rocket and Donald said in unison.

Electricity shot out of Rocket's blaster, and when it impacted on the Heartless's chest, it caused an explosion powerful enough to make it back up in pain. The Heartless roared out as it lifted its hammer with both hands, taking the burden off of Vanitas and Drax. The two sighed out as the energy stopped flowing into them.

"That was unpleasant," Drax commented.

"Understatement," Vanitas quipped before reloading his ASALT 96 again.

Vanitas fired his gun at the Heartless's head, before Goofy threw his shield at the same spot. The shield was knocked out of the air by the Heartless with its hammer before Vanitas caught it with his free hand. Vanitas landed next to Goofy, and they held the shield together as Gamora started running towards them. They understood her intention pretty quickly. Once Gamora got close enough, she jumped up and landed on it with one foot. They then pushed her up, giving her a chance to leap up with her sword in preparation. She pulled back with her sword and stabbed the Heartless right in the chest. She then pulled it out and landed on her feet on the ground.

The group then had to scatter as the Heartless started swinging its hammer at them again. Once the Heartless had stopped, Sora jumped up to use aerial combos to attack again while Peter kept blasting with his guns.

After a few more attacks, Vanitas pulled out his machete as Sora got the others and started Unity Limit. They four of them started a bunch of slashes with their weapons, before lunging forwards. Vanitas glowed red, and they all slashed their weapons, which were encased in fire. Then Donald floated above them and sent out lots of flares that blew up on the Heartless. Then they span their weapons around and shot Drive Orbs at the Heartless.

The four of them then landed in a circle in front of the Heartless and raised their weapons up. Energy provided by all of them appeared in the air, which glowed brightly in an attack that drained the Heartless of the rest of its health, ending the team attack and the fight.

Everyone put their weapons away as the Heartless's chest glowed, and a crystal like heart flew up in the air and disappeared. The Heartless's body soon vanished in wind, and the Power Stone fell through the air.

"Oh, shit!" Vanitas exclaimed, lunging forwards.

He caught the Stone in his right hand, and power flared.

"V!" everyone exclaimed.

But then after a second, the energy faded, reverting to a simple purple light in his hand. Vanitas turned towards them and opened his hand, revealing the Power Stone, which was resting simply in his hand. He furrowed his eyebrows at this, then looked up at his friends, who looked equally confused. *** _2_ ***

"What the hell?" Peter asked.

"I thought that creepy ass collector said that they can only be used by people of great power?" Rocket asked.

"That's exactly what he said," Gamora informed them.

Incredibly confused, Vanitas pulled out the Orb he took from Gamora, and placed the Stone inside.

"I have no idea what that's about," he admitted. "I still don't know all the hell that's happening to me, so I'll just figure it out when I do everything else."

He tossed them the Orb, and Peter caught it in his hand.

"This is what you guys deal with every day?" Peter sighed out as he and Gamora stood next to each other.

"Pretty much," Sora admitted.

"We save lots of worlds like this," Goofy said.

"Sometimes, I'd like to just go back home and take a decent rest," Donald muttered.

During all this, they had moved back closer to the dirt patch again, and the crowd had appeared again.

"Well, well, well," Yondu's cocky voice garnered their attentions to the crowd. "Quite the light show."

They looked up to see Yondu staring down at them with many of his Ravengers, with the cocky smile they expected from his voice.

"Ain't this sweet," Yondu said as some of his Ravengers cocked their guns. During his next words, Peter hid the Orb behind his back. "But you got some business to attend to before all the nookie-nookie starts."

"Peter, you can't," Gamora told Peter. "Peter."

"You gotta reconsider this, Yondu," Peter insisted to Yondu. "I don't know who you're selling this to, but the only way the universe can survive is if you give it to the Nova Corps."

"I may be as pretty as an angel..." Yondu said before opening his coat to reveal his arrow in the holster. "...but I sure as hell ain't one." He held out a hand. "Hand it over, son."

The two men had a brief stare down before Peter pulled the Orb out of the back of his coat and placed it in Yondu's hand. Yondu smiled and chuckled at them, then gestured to the Ravengers behind them that they could go now. Kraglin gestured to them and they lowered their guns and started the trek back to the ship. Yondu turned around to follow them.

"Yondu," Peter called out, getting him to stop. Still smiling, Yondu turned back and faced them. "Do not open the Orb. You know that, right? You've seen what it does to people."

Yondu smiled and gestured for Peter to know he understood, then followed the Ravengers back to their ship. The ship flew up into the air, and the group watched as Yondu and Kraglin stared at them through a window before a guard slid over it, and the ship flew up into the air and out of sight. They watched it go while Rocket went back to the sticks that used to be Groot, followed by Drax, Donald, and Goofy.

"He is gonna be so pissed when he realizes I switched out the Orb on him," Peter announced, pulling out the real Orb, and making Gamora, Sora, and Vanitas laugh.

"He was gonna kill you, Peter," Gamora told him.

"Oh, I know," Peter admitted, looking up.

"Been there," Vanitas said.

"But he was about the only family I had," Peter told them, looking back down at the Orb in his hand.

Gamora put one hand on top of the Orb and the other on Peter's hand.

"No," she corrected him. "He wasn't."

"Not anymore," Sora added, and Vanitas nodded in agreement.

Rocket was sitting on the ground, holding one of the sticks in his hands, and sobbing. Donald had a sympathetic arm around his shoulders before Drax winced as he sat down next to them with Goofy. Not knowing what to do with someone crying, Drax sympathetically started petting Rocket on top of his head, which made him gasp slightly before accepting it.

"We're all right," Goofy told them. "We're all right..."

They had won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Yeah, Ronan becomes a Heartless. Like I said earlier, this is a moment where I can do something original with the story. Adding a boss fight can work pretty well for adding original stuff
> 
> *2 Another little nod to how powerful Vanitas is, which will be explained later on
> 
> Part 4... and I'm out of synonyms for "done"


	11. Bit of Both

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group splits up for now, while elsewhere, plans are made...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "It's the end... but the moment has been prepared..."
> 
> -4th Doctor, Logopolis, Doctor Who, 1981

The eight members of the group cleaned up and healed their wounds a bit before they went to the headquarters for the Nova Corps to have a talk with Nova Prime, who explained that they had something to tell them, particularly Peter. Peter, Gamora, Sora, and Vanitas went with them, while Drax, Rocket, Donald, and Goofy lagged behind a bit.

"Why would you even know this?" Peter asked.

"When we arrested you, we noticed an anomaly in your nervous system, so we had it checked out," Denarian Dey explained to them as they looked over a holographic image of Peter's body over the main Nova computer.

The results pointed to one conclusion.

"I'm not Terran?" Peter asked.

"You are half Terran," Nova Prime corrected him. "Your mother was of Earth. Your father, well, he's something very ancient we've never seen here before."

"That is awesome," Vanitas commented, Sora nodding in agreement.

"That could be why you were able to hold the Stone for as long as you did," Gamora suggested.

A door slid open, and the others walked in, Rocket carrying a pot of dirt with the twig from Groot planted inside.

"Your friends have arrived," Nova Prime announced as the others walked to join them. "On behalf of the Nova Corps, we'd like to express our profound gratitude for your help in saving Xandar."

They all smiled and offered slight nods at her words.

"No problem, Cruella," Vanitas quipped. *** _1_ ***

"There's one last thing, regarding you, Vanitas Jordan," Nova Prime announced.

The Gummi quartet shared confused looks with each other, since he was pretty sure he had already figured out most of what had happened to him. Unless...

A holographic image of Vanitas came up from the main console, with red and black lights going through the blue image.

"You've already told us your story," Nova Prime announced. "Your Keyblade exploded, and it robbed you of your life force, powers, and memories."

"Yeah," Vanitas admitted. "It left me a zombie, meaning nothing to kill me."

"Not exactly," Nova Prime admitted. "We have associates that are Keyblade Masters, and they all explained their own interpretations of what would happen if a Master's Keyblade exploded as close to them as you were to yours." She looked at him sadly. "The blast should have killed you."

Vanitas narrowed his eyes in confusion at the woman, as did the other members of the group.

"What?" Vanitas asked.

"But, that doesn't make any sense," Sora insisted. "If V's Keyblade exploding should have killed him..."

"Then why's he standing here with us right now?" Peter finished, gesturing to Vanitas to emphasize the point.

"We are not completely sure," Nova Prime admitted. "But we do have theories from our experts. A latent spell that you weren't aware was cast on you. Somehow, the Keyblade decided to only limit you of everything. Or, and this is the one we're leaning towards most, your will to live and desire to help your friends kept you alive."

"So, you're saying V was too stubborn to die?" Donald asked. "That sounds about right..."

They all chuckled slightly at Donald's words.

"But, there is a problem," Nova Prime admitted, and they stopped laughing. "You already noticed that not having your life force means you can't feel anything, but you said you've started to be able to feel things in random bursts, correct?"

"Yeah, particularly pain and exhaustion," Vanitas admitted.

"And when would you say it was that these moments started?" Nova Prime asked.

Vanitas crossed his arms for a second.

"Well..." he said. "I felt sadness in my chest when my friend lost his mom and there was nothing I could do to help. Like, an actual feeling in my chest. Then there was some time after that, I lost my friend, and... I cried."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy remembered how right after they woke up, Vanitas looked relieved to see them, with a wet cheek and a red eye. They shared a look confirming they had the same thought: was this right before they had woken up?

"And how long has it been since this happened to you, now?" Nova Prime asked. "Your Keyblade exploded and left you like this?"

"I don't know..." Vanitas admitted, thinking about it. "There was one year where I didn't remember anything, then nine more where I searched the worlds for the prick responsible. Nothing like those happened before I met Sora."

"Wait," Gamora said, in thought. "You just said you had been like that for ten years without change. Maybe, once you hit ten years, whatever is keeping you like this started to wane."

"Hey, she's got a point," Rocket agreed. "Whatever was keeping you from feeling things started to let up, and let you feel things at random more often."

"That actually makes sense," Sora suggested. "'Cause remember, you've also been having even more random flares with your powers lately. Not all of them have been good."

"I'll say," Goofy said, running the back of his head and remembering all the times he had been thrown into walls so far.

Vanitas winced in embarrassment as he remembered those times. He then thought over their words, and realized that his friends were coming to a good point.

"So, when I hit ten years, whatever was keeping me like this started to wear off," Vanitas translated. "Made me start to feel things, and made my use of my powers even more wonky than usual. Okay, I accept that. But there's still one thing I don't understand."

He looked from his friends to Nova Prime.

"If this thing is wearing off..." Vanitas slowly started. "Then what's gonna happen when it's completely gone?"

Nova Prime paused for a minute before she admitted, "I have no idea."

"Fantastic," Vanitas muttered.

"Let's try not to worry about it right now," Sora suggested. "We're here, we're alive, and you're still okay. We'll figure it out as we go along, and cross that bridge when we get to it. We're gonna do everything we can to make sure you end up okay."

Donald and Goofy nodded their heads in agreement, as did the other Guardians.

"I hope you're right," Vanitas admitted.

"In the meantime, if you'll follow Denarian Dey, he has something to show you," Nova Prime told them with a smile.

"Thank you, Nova Prime," Peter told her.

"Yeah, thanks," Sora said as they started following Dey across the room.

During the walk, Gamora and Vanitas ended up next to Drax.

"Your wife and child shall rest well knowing you have avenged them," Gamora told Drax.

"Yes," Drax agreed. "Of course, Ronan was only a puppet. It's really Thanos I need to kill."

"Hey, we'll have your back," Vanitas told him. "Even if the relationship between them was strained, Thanos was still allies with one of our oldest enemies, so we know he's bad news. We'll try to be there to help you take him down."

"Thank you, Vanitas," Drax told him as Gamora stopped behind them.

She stared after them for a second with her jaw dropped. Everything she was taught or shown by Thanos meant that he had to be damn near impossible to defeat, let alone kill. She didn't know if any one of them could, let alone the Keyblade Masters. Gamora sighed out and followed them through the hallways.

"We tried to keep it as close to the original as possible," Dey admitted as they walked out into the open.

The group gasped in surprise as they saw the newly rebuilt _Milano_ resting on a deck right in front of them.

"Salvaged as much as we could," Dey told them.

"Wow," Peter said as they all smiled at the ship. "I..." He looked at Dey. "Thank you."

Light then suddenly appeared around the Milano, surprising them all. But then the Gummi quartet remembered what that meant, and prepared themselves.

The Keyblade appeared in Sora's hand, so he held it in both hands and looked down at it. Light then gathered in a large, see through sphere at the end, and then the design of a crown appeared where Sora was standing in light. The light blew up wind around him that transformed his surroundings into an area of clouds with light shining through all around him. Light then shot out of the _Milano_ and up into the air, which formed a Keyhole. Sora jumped back, swung his Keyblade around and pointed it at the Keyhole. A circle appeared around the end, and a beam shot out and into the Keyhole. The Keyhole was then covered in light which engulfed everything before fading completely, returning Sora's surroundings to normal.

"What the heck was that?" Peter asked.

"A new path has opened for us," Goofy informed them. "Guess that means it's about time for us to leave."

"We don't have to go just yet," Sora admitted. "We can stick around for a little while longer."

Rocket, Gamora, Donald, and Vanitas sighed out in relief at that.

"I have a family," Dey admitted to Peter. "They're alive because of you."

The group all smiled at the gratitude in the man's voice.

"Your criminal records have also been expunged," Dey told them. "However, I have to warn you against breaking any laws in the future."

"There's always a catch," Vanitas softly quipped, making his friends laugh.

"Question," Rocket announced, getting Dey's attention. "What if I see something that I want to take, and it belongs to somebody else?"

"You will be arrested," Dey told him.

"But what if I want it more than the person who has it?" Rocket asked.

"It's still illegal," Dey told him.

"That doesn't follow," Rocket announced. "No, I want it more, sir. Do you understand?"

He looked up to see Gamora and the others laughing at his words.

"What are you laughing at?" Rocket asked before Gamora started leading him over to the _Milano_. "Why? I can't have a discussion with this gentleman?"

"What if someone does something irksome..." Drax softly started, walking forwards to look at Dey better. "And I decide to remove his spine?"

Dey looked at Peter, Sora and Vanitas, then back at Drax with surprise in his eyes.

"That's..." he started. "That's actually murder." Drax looked surprised by that information. "It's one of the worst crimes of all. So... also illegal."

"Hmm," Drax hummed in thought as he walked with Donald and Goofy to the ship.

"They'll be fine, Dey," Peter told him. "I'm gonna keep an eye on 'em?"

"You?" Dey asked, slightly incredulously.

Peter looked from Dey and down the walkway where the others were walking towards the ship.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "Me."

"Say 'hi' to Will Pharrell for me," Vanitas told Dey as they walked after the others. "I loved you guys in Stepbrothers. And... all the other movies you two did together." *** _2_ ***

They all entered the ship, and Peter went into his room to pull out the box from earlier with the bright wrapping paper. He gestured Sora and Vanitas in, so they walked in and watched as he showed them the box.

"This was the last gift my mom gave me before she died," Peter admitted. "It happened, literally minutes after she gave it to me, so I've been too afraid to open it over the years. Now that I've finally got a family in you guys and the others, I feel like I'm finally ready."

"That's amazing," Sora said. "But why do you want us here?"

"You guys have been the nicest to me along this little 'event'," Peter admitted. "Partly 'cause you're the only other humans, and you didn't try to kill me."

"That's fair," Vanitas admitted with a nod of the head.

"Very true," Sora agreed.

Peter sat on his bed, and Sora and Vanitas stood next to it, looking down with him at the present and letter in his hands. After a few seconds, Peter opened the letter and took out a paper, allowing them to read it.

 _Peter,_ they read. _I know these last few months have been hard for you. But I'm going to a better place. And I will be okay. And I will always be with you. You are the light of my life. My precious son. My little Star-Lord. Love, mom._

Sora and Vanitas had a slight moment where they mouthed "Oh..." from the realization of the nickname.

"Wow..." Sora said, placing a sympathetic hand on Peter's shoulder, his voice cracking a bit.

"That was... beautiful..." Vanitas admitted, looking down to hide his voice also cracking a bit.

Peter placed the letter down and slowly opened the present with the wrapping over it. Inside the box was another cassette tape labelled, "Awesome Mix Vol. 2."

Peter put the tape in the player and set the dials up, as it started playing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." He stared at it with tears building in his eyelids, and the others looking at him sympathetically.

Gamora walked into the hallway and smiled at Peter while nodding her head slightly, and he started to smile at her. The Gummi quartet smiled with them.

Elsewhere, the Ravengers were celebrating in their ship, drinking and laughing. However, Yondu sat in a chair and looked down at the Orb in his hand in contemplation. Despite Peter's earlier warning, Yondu opened up the orb, revealing a troll doll with orange hair and a flannel like shirt. Yondu smiled widely and laughed at the realization of what Peter did.

The real Orb with the Power Stone inside was stored away in a Nova Corps vault with many guards in front of it, ready to keep it there. At the same time, Dey had arrived home and was quickly and happily greeted by his wife and daughter, both of whom he hugged tightly.

Back in the Milano, the group had gathered in the cockpit, contemplating their next course.

"The Keyhole locking usually means another gate has opened for us to go through," Donald explained. "But we still don't know where the ship is."

"Do Gummi Ships have pretty intricate stealth techniques?" Rocket asked.

"No, we're just very skilled at parking," Donald admitted. "We'll probably never find the ship."

"We found the ship," Sora announced as Vanitas pointed out the window.

The others followed Vanitas's pointed finger out to where the red, yellow, and white ship was docked out in the distance.

"Aw, shut up," Donald growled to the smiles the Guardians were pointing at them.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Goofy sadly said.

"Do you have to go?" Gamora asked.

"Maleficent is still out there," Sora reminded her. "Along with the Organization. As long as they're at large, none of the worlds are safe."

"Plus, eight of us in one ship would be kinda cramped," Vanitas admitted.

"Very, yes," Drax agreed.

"Don't worry," Sora told them. "Once this problem with Maleficent and Organization XIII is finished, the first thing we're gonna do is come see you guys again."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," Peter announced, pointing at Sora.

"I'll make sure he fulfills that promise," Vanitas told them.

They eight members of the group shared hugs and handshakes respectively (though, whoever got whatever from Drax ended up hurting regardless). The Gummi quartet climbed out of the _Milano_ and waved goodbye to their friends in the cockpit before they made their way to the Gummi Ship.

The Guardians took their places in the cockpit, with Peter, Drax, and Rocket sitting in the seats and Gamora standing next to Peter. Drax and Rocket smiled and nodded at each other before Rocket looked at the pot in his lap. To his amazement, the twig came to life, reaching out its arms as it yawned awake.

"So, what should we do next?" Peter asked. "Something good? Something bad? A bit of both?"

Gamora looked around at the others before she looked down at Peter.

"We'll follow your lead, Star-Lord," she told him.

Peter smiled for a second before he announced, "Bit of both."

They piloted the ship up into the air and into the sky, ready for their next adventure...

* * *

Elsewhere, on the other side of the galaxy, Maleficent walked out of a dark corridor into a small room where she and Pete had been hiding away in. The room was dark, circular, and had columns going up into the ceiling. A bare wall was behind her, which was lined entirely of dark brick. Entering the chamber, Maleficent looked up to see Pete staring at her in slight fear.

"Um, Maleficent..." he said with uncertainty. "We've got... a bit of a problem."

"What have you done this time, you bumbling buffoon?" Maleficent asked Pete, annoyed.

With fear in his voice, Pete pointed behind her while wincing. Maleficent turned around, and the frown dropped from her face at the transmissioned face of Thanos on the wall behind her.

"A-almighty Thanos," Maleficent said, fear in her voice. "T-to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"You know exactly why I am calling you, witch!" Thanos announced. "You aided Ronan when he planned to use the Power Stone against me."

"I... I am not sure I understand what you mean," Maleficent tried lying.

"Oh?" Thanos asked. "Then why do my spies tell me that the Stone is now in the property of the Nova Corps, and the Keyblade Masters have escaped after defeating Ronan?"

Maleficent didn't say anything, knowing that there was nothing she could to get her out of this.

"You are have used up your last chance, Maleficent," Thanos told her. "You will no longer have assistance from me or the Organization. Once I find you, I will rip the thorns from your head, stab the staff through your neck, burn you at a stake, and the, only then, Maleficent, will I _start_ killing you."

The projection of Thanos disappeared, leaving Maleficent and Pete staring up at where the Mad Titan was in fear.

"We've seen first hand what he does to people and entire civilizations," Pete told her. "What do we do?"

"We must gather our forces," Maleficent told him. "Our army of Heartless, we must use it to take back our base."

She looked over at Pete with a slight smile.

"We must take back the Castle at Hollow Bastion." *** _3_ ***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Glenn Close, who played Nova Prime in this, also played Cruella de Vil in the live action 101 Dalmatians. That's what the reference is
> 
> *2 One last break of the 4th wall
> 
> *3 Just a little way to tie in to the battle of Hollow Bastion since it happens pretty soon after this
> 
> Ah, that's the Guardians of the Galaxy story done. It was pretty fun to do. Finally adding Donald and Goofy into the mix, bringing Sora back into the fold, having the connection between Thanos, Maleficent, and Xehanort, and all the teases for what we'll be doing in later installments for both Vanitas's powers, and the upcoming battle against the Mad Titan. This one was definitely one of the more fun installments, and I'm glad to have been able to do it. Up next, we're finishing up the KHII story, then they keep their promise and come see the Guardians again as soon as they finish the problem with the Organization. That'll lead to Volume 2, and in canonical order, Age of Ultron. And I'm especially excited for that because I wanna start writing Tony and Bruce with Vanitas again. Plus, there'll be a surprise extra member added to the team. We'll get there eventually...


End file.
